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Copyright 2015 Jeff D. Erickson
SIGNIFYING ON THE GREEKS: THE USE OF RHETORICAL DEVICES IN JAZZ
IMPROVISATION ANALYSIS
BY
JEFF D. ERICKSON
DISSERTATION
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music
with a concentration in Jazz Performance
in the Graduate College of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015
Urbana, Illinois
Doctoral Committee:
Professor Charles McNeill, Chair
Professor Debra Richtmeyer
Professor Erik Lund
Professor Gabriel Solis
ii
ABSTRACT
Rhetoric is the art of effective and persuasive communication. Building upon and
bringing together musical and rhetorical scholarship from both Western and Afrological
perspectives, this study lays out a theoretical framework and analytical process for applying the
principles and devices of rhetoric to jazz improvisation analysis. Taken from both Western and
Afrological sources, approximately four dozen rhetorical devices are defined, translated into
musical figures, and applied to the transcribed solos of six jazz artists. These musicians, Lester
Young, Jim Hall, Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and Steve Lacy, are master
communicators; their ability to craft a “message” and communicate effectively and persuasively
is reflected in their significant use of rhetorical figures in these improvisations.
These six analyses show how a rhetorical approach to jazz improvisation analysis is
unique in jazz scholarship and offers new insights that existing forms of analysis do not provide.
By combining both European and African rhetorical traditions, this study moves beyond
traditional musical analysis, based primarily on Western music theory concepts, to incorporate
the unique qualities and semantics of African American musical and rhetorical culture.
Along with the solo analysis, this study provides a historical background of the two
rhetorical and musical-rhetorical traditions upon which jazz draws: the Western European, via
the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the African American, via the Africans and ancient
Egyptians. Additionally, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” is transcribed and
analyzed for its rhetorical and musical-rhetorical use; the solo analysis draws on this speech for
comparative purposes.
iii
To my wife – my best friend and life partner –
for her love, support, understanding and encouragement
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ………………………………………………………....... vi
LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………………… xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Statement of Purpose and Background ………………………………………………. 1
Literature Review …………………………………………………………………….. 4
Research Objectives and Methodology ………………………………………………. 12
CHAPTER TWO: SYNTHESIS OF THE WESTERN EUROPEAN AND
AFRICAN/AFRICAN AMERICAN RHETORICAL AND MUSICAL-RHETORICAL
TRADITIONS
The Western European Rhetorical Tradition ………………………………………… 17
The Western European Musical-Rhetorical Tradition ……………………………….. 19
The African American Rhetorical Tradition …………………………………………. 20
The African American Musical-Rhetorical Tradition ………………………………... 23
Combining the Western European and African American Musical-Rhetorical
Traditions …………………………………………………………………….. 26
Scientific Rationale for Rhetorical Analysis: Neuroscience Connections between
Language and Music …………………………………………………………. 28
CHAPTER THREE: MUSICAL-RHETORICAL SOLO ANALYSIS
Notes on the Analysis and Notation ………………………………………………….. 30
Horace Silver’s Piano Solo on “The Tokyo Blues,” July 13, 1962 ………………….. 32
Jim Hall’s Guitar Solo on “Hide and Seek,” August 10, 2000 ……………………….. 51
Lester Young’s Tenor Saxophone Solo on “Lady Be Good,” November 9, 1936 …… 71
v
Sonny Rollins’ Tenor Saxophone Solo on “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” (Take 2)
November 3, 1957 …………………………………………………………….. 89
Miles Davis’ Trumpet Solo on “My Funny Valentine,” February 12, 1964 …………. 109
Steve Lacy’s Soprano Saxophone Solo on “Longing,” March 28 or 29, 1996 ………. 137
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSIONS ……………………………………………………….. 156
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………….. 164
APPENDIX A: CHART OF MUSICAL-RHETORICAL FIGURES ……………………….. 171
APPENDIX B: SOLO TRANSCRIPTIONS ………………………………………………… 180
APPENDIX C: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING’S “I HAVE A
DREAM” SPEECH …………………………………………………………………... 204
vi
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES
Example 3.1 The final eight measures of the melody of “The Tokyo Blues” ………………. 33
Example 3.2 Motive a with retrograde and antithesis in the first half of chorus one of “The
Tokyo Blues” ………………………………………………………………………… 33
Example 3.3 Beginning repetition and frame repetition with expansion in the first chorus of
“The Tokyo Blues” …………...……………………………………………………… 36
Example 3.4 Rhetorical figures in the last part of chorus one and the beginning of chorus
two of “The Tokyo Blues” ………………………………….……………………….... 38
Example 3.5 Multiple connection repetition combined with climax ………………………… 38
Example 3.6 Multiple connective repetition, chorus three of “The Toyko Blues ……………. 39
Example 3.7 Rhetorical devices in combination to create indirection in “The Toyko Blues” .. 39
Example 3.8 A well-balanced phrase using harmonic generalization and sentence structure
in “The Toyko Blues” ………………………………………………………………... 42
Example 3.9 Multiple repetition types used in “The Toyko Blues” …………………………. 43
Example 3.10 Measures 5-8 of the main theme of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” (tranposed
from the original key of Bb) ……………………………………………….........….... 44
Example 3.11 Motive a/“Manteca” paraphrase in “The Tokyo Blues” ……………………... 44
Example 3.12 Mimicry and tonal semantics in chorus five of “The Toyko Blues” ………… 45
Example 3.13 Beginning repetition, sentence structure, and tricolon in chorus five of “The
Toyko Blues” …………………………………………………………………………. 47
Example 3.14 Question and answer and call and response in “The Tokyo Blues” ………….. 48
Example 3.15 Various types of repetition, signifying, tonal semantics, and call and response
leading to the pitch climax of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” ……... 50
Example 3.16 Motive a in measure one in”Hide and Seek” …………………………………. 52
Example 3.17 Motive b in measure seven and motive b’ in measures 20 to 22 in “Hide and
Seek” ………………………………………………………………………………….. 52
Example 3.18 Motives a and b in the first phrase of “Hide and Seek” ………………………. 53
Example 3.19 Motives a and b “bookend” the second phrase of “Hide and Seek,” mirroring
their use in the previous phrase ……………………...................................................... 54
Example 3.20 Correction and doubt in “Hide and Seek” ……………………………………. 56
Example 3.21 Motive b and a cadential extension used to resolve the uncertainty of the
previous idea in “Hide and Seek” …………………………………………………….. 58
vii
Example 3.22 Rephrased motive b’ retrogrades with call and response in measures 23 to 28
of “Hide and Seek” …………………………………………………………………… 60
Example 3.23 Anticlimax in “Hide and Seek” ………………………………………………. 61
Example 3.24 Motive c triad pairs and harmonic and time indirection in “Hide and Seek” ... 62
Example 3.25 The transition from motive c to motive d in “Hide and Seek” ………………. 64
Example 3.26 Enumeration, isocolon, and climax “confirm” motive d in “Hide and Seek … 66
Example 3.27 Confirmation of motive b and tonal resolution using delayed repetition in
“Hide and Seek” ……………………………………………………………………… 67
Example 3.28 Motive a used in a new key, recalling its use at the beginning of “Hide and
Seek” …………………………………………………………………………………. 68
Example 3.29 Motive b material used again to answer motive a in “Hide and Seek” …....…. 69
Example 3.30 Enumeration of the b’ retrograde in the last section of “Hide and Seek” ……. 70
Example 3.31 Ending and transposed repetition with anticlimax in the last phrase of “Hide
and Seek” …………………………………………………………………………….. 71
Example 3.32 Basic pitch outline of motive a in “Lady Be Good” …………………………. 73
Example 3.33 Motive a used near the beginning of each of the first two A sections in “Lady
Be Good” ……………………………………………………………………………... 74
Example 3.34 Motive a used to end each of the last four A sections in “Lady Be Good” ….. 74
Example 3.35 Motive a connected to other material through rhetorical devices at the
beginning of “Lady Be Good” ……………………………………………………….. 77
Example 3.36 Reverse order and signifying on a motive a cadential extension used to
bridge two phrases in “Lady Be Good” ……………………………………………… 79
Example 3.37 Motives c and d and their absorption into motive a in “Lady Be Good” ….… 80
Example 3.38 Motive a signifying on motives c and d in a question and answer phrase in
“Lady Be Good” ……………………………………………………………………… 81
Example 3.39 Dialogue and pitch indirection in motive b in the first chorus of “Lady Be
Good” ………………………………………………………………………………… 82
Example 3.40 Dialogue and indirection in motive b in the second chorus of “Lady Be
Good” ………………………………………………………………………………… 84
Example 3.41 Time indirection using a tonic enclosure with 3/4 cross rhythm formula in
“Lady Be Good” ……………………………….…………………………………….. 85
Example 3.42 Tonic enclosure with 3/4 cross rhythm formula in Young’s 1938 solo on
“Honeysuckle Rose” …………………………………………………………………. 86
Example 3.43 Dominant and tonic notes with their upper neighbors in take one of Lester
Young’s March 19, 1939 recording of “Taxi War Dance” …………………………... 87
viii
Example 3.44 Dominant and tonic notes with upper neighbors, chromaticism, and 3/8 and
3/4 cross rhythms in “Lady Be Good” ……………………………………………….. 87
Example 3.45 Sources for the three main motives in the melody of “Softly, as in a Morning
Sunrise” ………………………………………………………………………………. 89
Example 3.46 Rephrasing of the melody in the first two A sections of “Softly, as in a
Morning Sunrise” …………………………………………………………………….. 90
Example 3.47 The bridge of the original melody of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” …….. 92
Example 3.48 Contraction and Signifying in the opening melody of the bridge in “Softly, as
in a Morning Sunrise” ………………………………………………………………… 92
Example 3.49 Antithesis, exclamation, and tonal semantics in the beginning of “Softly, as
in a Morning Sunrise …………………………………………………………………. 94
Example 3.50 Parenthesis and truncation in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” …………….. 96
Example 3.51 The ending motive stated via melody, blues, and bebop language in “Softly,
as in a Morning Sunrise” ……………………………………………………………… 97
Example 3.52 Climax, anticlimax, harmonic indirection, and conjunction in “Softly, as in a
Morning Sunrise” …………………………………………………………………….. 98
Example 3.53 Hyperbole, recitation tone, and call and response used in the “softly” motive
inversion, framed by the ending motive in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” ………. 100
Example 3.54 Recitation tone in the “softly” motive, followed by the ending motive in
“Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” …………………………………………………….. 101
Example 3.55 Arrival at the dominant climax and recitation tone in the twelfth minute of
Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream Speech” …………………………………….. 103
Example 3.56 A second, different use of hyperbole in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” …. 105
Example 3.57 All three motives brought together at the end of “Softly, as in a Morning
Sunrise” ……………………………………………………………………………… 107
Example 3.58 Original melody of “My Funny Valentine,” measures 1 to 8 ……………….. 111
Example 3.59 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,”
October 26, 1956 …………………………………………………………………….. 112
Example 3.60 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,”
July 28, 1958 ………………………………………………………………………… 112
Example 3.61 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,”
February 12, 1964 ……………………………………………………………............ 112
Example 3.62 Melodic and harmonic reinterpretation in the second A section, chorus one,
of “My Funny Valentine” ……………………………………………………………. 115
Example 3.63 Standard “lead sheet” of the bridge of “My Funny Valentine” ………............ 117
ix
Example 3.64 Signifying and dialogue in the bridge of the melody chorus of “My Funny
Valentine” ………………………………………………………………………......... 117
Example 3.65 A mistake informing subsequent gestures through tonal semantics in “My
Funny Valentine” …………………………………………………………………….. 120
Example 3.66 Recitation tone, tonal semantics and dialogue at the end of chorus one in
“My Funny Valentine” …………………………………………....………………….. 121
Example 3.67 Call and response and signifying on the form at the end of chorus one in “My
Funny Valentine” …………………………………………………………………….. 123
Example 3.68 “Shout chorus” style call and response at the beginning of the second chorus
of “My Funny Valentine” ……………………………………………………………. 125
Example 3.69 Disorder and antithesis in “My Funny Valentine” …………………………... 126
Example 3.70 A parallel phrase structure to the previous one in “My Funny Valentine”…... 128
Example 3.71 Davis laying out while the rhythm section continues the dialogue in “My
Funny Valentine” …………………………………………………………………….. 129
Example 3.72 Building from understatement to climax in “My Funny Valentine” ……........ 130
Example 3.73 Tonal semantics in “My Funny Valentine” ………………………………….. 131
Example 3.74 Lyrical playing and signifying in the bridge of chorus two in “My Funny
Valentine” ……………………………………………………………………………. 132
Example 3.75 Playing through a mistake in “My Funny Valentine” ……………………….. 133
Example 3.76 A rhapsodic gesture at the end of the bridge in the second chorus of “My
Funny Valentine” …………………………………………………………………….. 133
Example 3.77 Call and response between trumpet and piano in “My Funny Valentine” ….... 134
Example 3.78 A final hyperbolic gesture with extremes of tessitura and dynamics in “My
Funny Valentine” …………………………………………………………………….. 136
Example 3.79 The normal order of the master pitch set 012378 used throughout
“Longing” ………………………………………………………………………......... 138
Example 3.80 Bass pattern one from measures five and six and associated notes from the
complete pitch set in “Longing” …………………………………………………….. 138
Example 3.81 Bass pattern two from measures 13 and 14 and associated notes from the
complete pitch set in “Longing” ……………………………………………….…….. 138
Example 3.82 Melody motive a from measure one along with the corresponding notes
from the complete pitch set in “Longing” ……………..………………………….…. 139
Example 3.83 Melody motive b from measures seven and eight (transposed to p0) along
with corresponding notes from the complete pitch set in “Longing” ……................... 139
Example 3.84 Melody motive c from measures 14 and 15 (transposed to p0) along with
corresponding notes from the complete pitch set in “Longing” ……………..……..... 139
x
Example 3.85 Bass patterns two and one incorporating a D#, articulating the complete
012378 pitch set in “Longing” ……………………………………………………….. 140
Example 3.86 Motive a and its subset a’, in the melody of “Longing” ……………………... 143
Example 3.87 Motive a’ used as an ending repeat figure near the beginning of the solo in
“Longing” …………………………………………………………………………..... 143
Example 3.88 Doubt expressed in the dialogue between compound melody lines in
“Longing” ……………………………………………………………………............. 144
Example 3.89 Doubt is resolved in a definitive argument, followed by bass pattern one
and a’ in “Longing” ………………………………………………………………….. 145
Example 3.90 Various repetition types and expansion of a’ in “Longing” ………………..... 146
Example 3.91 Isocolon, hyperbole, and tonal semantics in a pair of trills in “Longing” ….... 146
Example 3.92 Dialogue, call and response, and signifying in “Longing” …………………... 147
Example 3.93 Call and response between saxophone and rhythm section as rhythmic and
pitch changes are introduced in “Longing” ………………………………………….. 148
Example 3.94 Delayed and frame repetition to end a section of “Longing” ………………... 148
Example 3.95 Figures of repetition working in conjunction with devices from four other
categories in “Longing” …………………………………………………………........ 149
Example 3.96 The farthest deviation from p0 in “Longing” ………………………………... 151
Example 3.97 Ending repeats of motive a’ and tonal semantics create a link to measures
44 to 46 in “Longing”………………………………………………………………… 152
Example 3.98 Avant-garde language in the coda of Lacy’s solo in “Longing” …………….. 153
Example 3.99 Blues language, p0 language, and a final return to motive a in “Longing” ….. 153
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Interval Class analysis of the 012378 pitch set as used in “Longing” …………..... 141
1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Statement of Purpose and Background
In the preface to The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, Judy
Tarling describes rhetoric as “an advanced system of communicating emotions and ideas.”1 In
speech, this system relies on a set of techniques that aims to move listeners emotionally to make
them receptive to the speaker’s ideas. Further, Tarling says that an effective rhetorical delivery
allows the listener to easily understand and appreciate either a spoken or musical message.2
The study presented here brings together and builds upon musical and rhetorical
scholarship from both Western and Africological perspectives to create a unique approach to the
analysis of jazz improvisation, particularly in the areas of melodic structure and development and
artistic intention. This study provides insight into how an improvised “message” can be crafted
and communicated most effectively and persuasively to the audience via rhetorical devices, or
figures. Rhetorical figures allow the listener to grasp and retain oral and musical ideas.
Accordingly, the most memorable improvised solos are typically ones that make significant use
of figures, often in combination. This is demonstrated in the transcriptions and analysis of
recorded solos by six artists noted by critics and musicians alike for their ability to develop
musical ideas in a way that tells a story: Lester Young, Jim Hall, Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins,
Miles Davis, and Steve Lacy. Using the vehicle of these artist transcriptions, this study identifies
and explains the use of rhetorical devices in jazz improvisation.
1 Judy Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences (St Albans, UK: Corda Music
Publications, 2005), iv. 2 Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, i-ii.
2
The inspiration for this project comes from discussions with Dr. Charles Young,
Professor of Composition at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has identified a
number of Western-European rhetorical figures and tracked them into the compositions of many
composers, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Cole Porter and George Gershwin. These
devices are well known to rhetoricians, who find them in the literature of William Shakespeare
and the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., and many of the rhetorical figures translate into
music. The purpose of these devices is the same in notes as in words: to communicate
information effectively with depth and nuance in a way that assists the listener or reader with
processing and retaining this information. These figures also help accomplish the ultimate goals
of rhetoric: persuasion and/or entertainment.3 The entertainment quality is particularly strong in
music.
There is another rhetorical tradition found in America’s music, with roots in the African
American community. Scholars have established that African oral and musical retentions are
found in African American culture. In oral communication these retentions include call and
response, signifying, tonal semantics, and narrative sequencing (storytelling).4 These same
retentions inform Black music, including blues and jazz, as brought to America through the ring
shout.5 Accordingly, there is the potential for new musical-rhetorical devices to be identified that
come directly out of African American rhetorical and musical traditions.
3 Entertainment first became important as a goal of rhetorical communication during the Renaissance, when rhetoric came to be seen as a way to reinvigorate stale language usage. See Dietrich Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 71-73. 4 Geneva Smitherman, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1977), 103. 5 Floyd and others have described the ring shout as a combination of music and dance that has a number of African American cultural and musical values embedded in it. See Samuel A. Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” Black Music Journal, vol. 11, no. 2 (Autumn 1991): 265-87, http://www.jstor.org/stable/779269.
3
Combining European and African rhetorical traditions provides a particularly insightful
way of looking at jazz improvisation. Whereas the European rhetorical tradition demonstrates
the process of the one fashioning a message to the many, the African tradition shows the one
engaging in dialogue with the many. Both are relevant to the improviser, who is both composer
and performer, making music that is both monologue and feedback-inspired dialogue. It is in
this context that the rhetorical figures examined in this study show their true potential: they
highlight the developmental process in improvisation in a way that moves beyond traditional
musical analysis, based primarily on Western music theory concepts, to incorporate the unique
qualities and semantics of African American musical and rhetorical culture.
Offering advantages over existing forms of jazz improvisation analysis, the systematic
rhetorical analysis presented in this study
1) provides deeper motivic analysis: some of the rhetorical figures offer a more detailed
examination of motivic use or reveal additional motivic relationships not uncovered by
traditional motivic analysis;
2) is complementary and additive to other forms of analysis: rhetorical analysis can easily
be used alongside other forms of analysis to provide a different perspective or increase
the clarity of other analytical techniques;
3) has ethnographic validity: rather than solely relying on techniques generated by a
Western European musical perspective, rhetorical analysis incorporates the unique
qualities of African American musical culture and practice to provide a more
comprehensive and insightful look at jazz improvisation;
4
4) focuses on the artist’s process and success in communication: rhetorical analysis shines
a light on the link between the artist’s crafting of the message and the listener’s
comprehension and retention of that message;
5) offers new insights into an artist’s style and body of work: rhetorical analysis suggests
that a re-examination of some of the artists included in this study, and by extension other
artists, may be in order;
6) encourages comparative analysis between artists: the rhetorical devices used in this
study reveal commonalities and differences in artists’ styles that are not easily
discovered in other forms of analysis;
7) opens the door to new approaches to teaching and learning jazz improvisation:
rhetorical analysis takes a broader view of improvisational technique and suggests that
new strategies for learning how to improvise can be explored.
Literature Review
Most of the sources examined for this study can be broken down into four broad
categories: Classical/European rhetoric, European musical-rhetoric, African American rhetoric,
and African American music (the latter including jazz ethnography, jazz theory, and
improvisation sources). In addition, sources linking music to language through linguistics,
semiotics and brain research scholarship have been examined. The sources reviewed in the first
three categories provide an understanding of the principles of rhetoric and how they have
historically been applied in both oratory and music. The African American rhetoric and music
sources show that a rhetorical music analysis also has applications in the area of jazz, although
rhetorical analysis of improvisation is an unexplored area. Consequently, this study has the
5
potential to make a valuable contribution to jazz scholarship. A more detailed examination of
the literature follows.
Sources for Western rhetorical devices include Richard Lanham’s A Handlist of
Rhetorical Terms,6 and a number of rhetoric websites, including Richard Nordquist’s “Glossary
of Rhetorical Terms.”7 Most of these sources contain definitions of the rhetorical figures and
oral and literary examples. Shakespeare’s Wordcraft, by Scott Kaiser, is an excellent book on
Shakespeare’s language. Although he does not always use the Latin terms found in the above
sources, he explores Shakespeare’s use of rhetorical devices in great detail with many examples.8
Three important books discuss the Western approach to both rhetoric and musical
rhetoric. Judy Tarling’s The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences
provides important background on the foundations of rhetoric in the ancient Classical world.
She also makes connections between rhetorical concepts and Western art music, particularly in
the areas of Baroque performance and affect.9 Dietrich Bartel’s Musica Poetica: Musical-
Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music provides an excellent framework for the aesthetic
of the German Baroque by comparing it to the both the Renaissance and the Age of
Enlightenment. He also discusses a number of German Baroque theorists and their approach to
musical rhetoric. Most importantly, this book is the primary source for European musical-
rhetorical figures; for each of the dozens of figures in the book, he supplies descriptive quotes
from both antiquity and the German theorists, along with musical examples.10 The third book,
6 Richard Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 2d ed. (Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1962). 7 Richard Nordquist, “Glossary of Rhetorical Terms,” Armstrong Atlantic State University, accessed March 29, 2011, http://www.armstrong.edu/term1.htm#accumulation. 8 Scott Kaiser, Shakespeare’s Wordcraft (New York: Limelight Editions, 2007). 9 Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences. 10 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music.
6
Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of Oration, by Mark Evan Bonds, discusses
the history of Western musical form alongside the development of rhetoric. His discussion of
how rhetoric and thematic development have historically been interwoven is very useful. He
also has a number of insights into music as language, and extends the discussion of musical-
rhetoric beyond the Baroque period covered by Bartel and Tarling, to the Classical period and its
eventual decline in the 19th century.11
An additional three sources for European musical-rhetoric include a collection of essays
titled Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric, Leonard Ratner’s Classic Music: Expression,
Form and Style, and a dissertation by Thomas Beghin. The essay collection is loosely organized
around Haydn and his music, but many of the writers (Timothy Erwin, Sander Goldberg, James
Van Horn Melton, Elaine Sisman, and James Webster) address rhetoric more broadly. Included
are discussions of the Classical roots of Rhetoric, German musical-rhetorical scholarship, and
more general connections between rhetoric and musical syntax, structure and form.12 Ratner’s
book has some musical-rhetorical figure definitions along with musical examples drawn from
Classical period literature.13 Beghin’s dissertation, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework
for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D)” is valuable both for its discussion and definitions of
rhetorical figures and its complete rhetorical analysis of an entire piece.14
Beyond the six European musical-rhetorical sources just mentioned, there is scant
literature that deals with Western musical-rhetorical devices in a detailed way. Based on the
11 Mark Evan Bonds, Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of the Oration (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981). 12 Tom Beghin and Sander M. Goldberg, ed., Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007).
13 Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980). 14 Tom Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D)” (PhD diss., Cornell University, 1996), http://www.search.proquest.com/docview/304250345?accountid=14553.
7
review of existing musical-rhetorical literature, the extension of Western musical-rhetorical
figures into jazz improvisation provided by this study is the first scholarly activity in this area.
There are a number of good resources on African American rhetoric. The four essays in
Understanding African American Rhetoric provide information on Black oral culture and
rhetoric from a distinctly Afrocentric point-of-view.15 Two of these essays, by Adisa Alkebulan
and Maulana Karenga, make important connections between ancient Egyptian philosophy and
African spiritual and communication practices. Another, by Jeffrey Woodward, provides an
important theoretical framework for the connection between African and African American
rhetorical principles. Books by Geneva Smitherman and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. also make links
between these cultures. Smitherman’s books are very helpful in understanding the breadth and
depth of African American oral discourse,16 while Gates “Signifyin(g)” concept provides a way
to understand and analyze the message in oral communication.17
A number of scholars have extended African American rhetoric into Black music. Both
Ben Sidran’s Black Talk and three sources by Samuel Floyd Jr. look carefully at African
American oral discourse in formulating their ideas on Black music.18 Drawing heavily on the
rhetorical work of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Floyd discusses the ring shout ritual as a key
transmission vehicle for connecting musical-rhetoric in jazz to its African roots.19 Along with
15 Ronald L. Jackson and Elaine B. Richardson, Understanding African American Rhetoric (New York: Routledge, 2003). 16 See Smitherman, Talkin and Testifyin; Smitherman, Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America (New York: Routledge, 2000).
17 See Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the Racial Self (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); Gates, The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). 18 Ben Sidran, Black Talk (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971).
19 See Floyd, “Ring Shout!” Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry”; Floyd, The Power
of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995);
Floyd, “African Roots of Jazz,” in The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 7-16 (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000).
8
Floyd, other authors who examine African American music through Gates’ Signifyin(g) prism
include John P. Murphy, Gary Tomlinson, Olly Wilson, and Robert Walser.20 Without using
rhetorical terms, Walser’s article “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of
Miles Davis” comes as close as any source to a rhetorical analysis that considers both the artistic
intent and the musical means of communicating that intent. His analysis also has an
ethnographic perspective.21 Ethnographic approaches towards jazz are also found in Paul
Berliner’s comprehensive Thinking in Jazz and Ingrid Monson’s Saying Something: Jazz
Improvisation and Interacting. Berliner lists a number of different improvisational strategies
that have rhetorical implications, but does not discuss rhetoric directly.22 The Monson book
concentrates on interaction and dialogue within the rhythm section.23 Both authors use a large
number of musical examples and draw heavily on interviews with jazz musicians in presenting
their arguments. Interaction, Improvisation, and Interplay in Jazz, by Robert Hodson, also
explores interaction within improvisation, again providing musically detailed examples.24 Like
Berliner, Monson and Hodson do not directly discuss rhetorical figures.
Western European rhetorical devices are mentioned in some of the African American
rhetoric sources, but in only two of the music sources. Neither one includes European figures in
musical examples. Many of the Black music sources recognize the relationship between African
20 See John P. Murphy, “The Joy of Influence,” Black Music Research Journal, Vol.18 No.1/2 (1990): 7-19, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214855; Gary Tomlinson, “Cultural Dialogics and Jazz: A White Historian Signifies,” Black Music Research Journal, vol. 22, Supplement: Best of BMRJ (2002): 71-105, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519944; Olly Wilson, “Black Music as an Art Form,” Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 3 (1983): 1-22, http://www.jstor.org/stable/779487.
21 Robert Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 77, No. 2 (Summer 1993): 343-65, http://www.jstor.org/stable/742559. 22 Paul Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994). 23 Ingrid Monson, Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interacting (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996). 24 Robert Hodson, Interaction, Improvisation, and Interplay in Jazz (New York: Routledge, 2007).
9
American rhetoric and music, but the musical-rhetorical references typically focus on explaining
the artists’ message without attempting to identify or define specific musical-rhetorical figures.
To this end, there is an opportunity to expand the list of Western European Rhetorical devices
with additional ones based on African American musical traditions and content. Further, this
study will show that some of the European musical-rhetorical figures are informed by the
African American content.
To gain a more comprehensive view and understanding of the state of jazz improvisation
analysis scholarship, I also looked at a number of sources to see what approaches have
historically been taken to improvisation analysis and whether there is any overlap with my thesis.
Thomas Owens’s “Analysing Jazz” and Gary Potter’s “Analyzing Improvised Jazz” both provide
good overviews of the various approaches to analysis. Owens tends to concentrate on
musicological approaches to analysis.25 He also mentions the work of Lawrence Gushee, who,
in his article “Lester Young’s Shoe Shine Boy,” discusses Lester Young’s improvisation using
four different approaches: semiotic (storytelling), schematic (expression of form), formulaic, and
motivic. Although Gushee devotes little time in this article to semiotic analysis, he notes that
Young’s storytelling and motivic prowess on “Shoe Shine Boy” are what make this solo more
memorable than those of the other soloists on the recording.26 The overview provided by Potter
focuses on analytical techniques. For example, he discusses pitch class analysis, often used for
analysis of atonal music, as a method that has been applied to free jazz and also describes a
linguistic approach used by Alan Perlman and Daniel Greenblatt.27
25 Thomas Owens, “Analysing Jazz,” in The Cambridge Companion to Jazz, ed. Mervyn Cooke and David
Horn (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 286-97. 26 Lawrence Gushee, “Lester Young’s ‘Shoe Shine Boy’,” in A Lester Young Reader, ed. Louis Porter (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 225-254. 27 Gary Potter, “Analyzing Improvised Jazz,” College Music Symposium, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring 1990): 64-74, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374000.
10
The article that Potter cites by Perlman and Greenblatt is “Miles Davis Meets Noam
Chomsky.” The authors draw on Noam Chomsky’s work in linguistics to analyze an improvised
melody in terms of deep, shallow, and surface structures. Respectively, the three levels refer to
the underlying harmonic progression, the array of melodic choices available to the improviser,
and the actual “licks” played. They also attempt to make connections between small linguistic
units and musical features such as chord substitutions, motives, and motivic development,
although their conclusions are drawn from musical examples with a number of inaccuracies. In
their attempt to find semantic meaning in improvisation, the authors state that meaning in jazz
improvisation exists insofar as the listener can understand what is happening structurally (the
harmonic form) and follow any historical references the improviser makes (for example, stylistic
references or a musical quote). To this end, they say that only insiders, mostly other musicians,
can understand jazz, and more casual listeners are relegated to appreciating how fast or high
musicians can play or their passion in the delivery of an indecipherable message.28
Greenblatt and Perlman’s analogical view of music through linguistics is one of two
possible approaches mentioned by Allan Keiler in his article “Two Views of Semiotics.” He also
uses a harmonic framework as the basis for his analogical approach, finding parallels between
sentence structure and harmonic progressions that center around I and V chords, with other
harmonies functioning as either tonic or dominant prolongations. This is the approach Keiler
prefers, but he also describes a taxonomic-empiricist approach, pioneered by Jean Jacques
Nattiez and Nicolas Ruwet.29 Ruwet was both a linguist and a music theorist, and his article
28 Alan M. Perlman and Daniel Greenblatt, “Miles Davis Meets Noam Chomsky: Some Observations on Jazz Improvisation and Language Structure,” in The Sign in Music and Literature, ed. Wendy Steiner (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1981), 169-83. 29 Allan Keiler, “Two Views of Musical Semiotics,” in The Sign in Music and Literature, ed. Wendy Steiner (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1981), 138-68.
11
“Methods of Analysis in Musicology” outlines his view of repetition at various levels of
structure as division markers of form. Using Classical musical-rhetorical terms and graphic
depictions, he outlines how repetition and repetition-with-variation serve this formal function
and also operate to transform ideas.30 A final linguistic/semiotics source, “Toward a Semiotics
of Music,” by Henry Orlov, argues that unlike language, which relies on abstract signs
(vocabulary) combined through grammar to communicate reality intellectually, musical sound
has no recognizable identity that can allow it to represent an external reality. His argument is
that language and music are autonomous but mutually complementary domains.31
Shedding new light on the above scholarship linking language and music is recent brain
research from three different sources. Creativity and neuroscience researcher Shelley Carson has
developed a theory of creativity that models seven discrete creativity “brainsets” that each use
different brain circuitry. While her research is not specifically geared towards music, she
addresses improvisation in general, and jazz improvisation in particular. In a chapter on the
stream brainset, she makes a number of connections between the similarities in brain usage in
musical improvisation and verbal communication.32 A second source is a John Hopkins study by
Donay et al., “Neural Substrates of Interactive Music Improvisation: An fMRI Study of Trading
Fours in Jazz.” The researchers learned what parts of the brain are used in musical improvisation
by taking MRIs of the brains of professional jazz pianists while they traded fours with each other
in different musical contexts. Musical analysis was then performed on transcriptions of the
improvised trading to identify frequency and degree of use of the following: contour imitation,
30 Nicolas Ruwet, “Methods of Analysis in Musicology,” translated by Mark Everist, Music Analysis, Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (Mar. – Jul. 1987): 11-36, http://www.jstor.org/stable/854214. 31 Henry Orlov, “Toward a Semiotics of Music” in The Sign in Music and Literature, ed. Wendy Steiner (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1981), 131-37.
32 Shelley Carson, Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 237-246.
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contour inversion, melodic imitation, motivic development, repetition, and transposition. After
comparing the regions of the brain used in this study to what is known to be used for verbal
language processing, the researchers were able to conclude that the brain uses a common neural
network for language syntax processing and musical syntactic operations. In addition, the
trading of fours resulted in a suppression of those areas of the brain associated with semantic
meaning.33 The third source, “The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation,” is a review of
current brain research on improvisation by Roger E. Beaty. He notes that there are significant
brain similarities between creativity in musical improvisation and other creative tasks, most
notably in the use of divergent thinking pathways. Drawing from a number of recent studies, he
also concludes that musical improvisation relies on ingrained, highly automated processes to
carry out more routine tasks, but also uses higher level executive (i.e. conscious) control
functions to carry out tasks related to developing improvisational ideas.34
Research Objectives and Methodology
Semantically, the closer one gets to the literal, the farther apart words and music appear
to be. But in the realm of grammatical structure, idea presentation and delivery, thematic
development, and communication of emotional content, there are a number of principles that are
common to both words and music. Drawing on these common principles, this study seeks to
answer the question of whether a rhetorical approach to jazz improvisation analysis offers new
insights beyond that provided by existing forms of analysis.
33 Gabriel Donay et al., “Neural Substrates of Interactive Musical improvisation: An fMRI study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz,” PLoS ONE, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2014): 7-9, http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0088665.
34 Roger E. Beaty, “The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 51 (2015): 109-15, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763415000068.
13
Early analysis of improvisation, often by critics or popular writers on jazz, took a
semiotic approach. Here, the writer described a solo in words and frequently looked at it as a
story. While not a rigorous approach analytically, this method often attempted to understand the
artist’s communicative intent.
Modern, scholarly analysis of improvisation tends to be more analytical and often targets
specific features of the music. The most common approach taken is examination of the harmonic
aspects of improvisation. Given the complicated nature of learning to play “the changes” or
applying modern harmonic techniques, this focus is understandable, but limited by itself, since it
does not deal directly with melodic aspects of improvisation. Another method of analysis
focuses on motivic or sometimes thematic content. The usual approach is to identify main
motives (a and b) and then to identify related ideas (a’ and b’). Verbal descriptions often
elaborate on the relationships and structure of ideas. Other scholars have broken down
improvisation into formulaic patterns and identification of common vocabulary features. One of
the best examples of this approach is Thomas Owens’ dissertation analysis of 250 Charlie Parker
solos, where he extracts 100 common melodic formulae used by Parker. In the last few decades,
some scholars have used Schenker analysis to break down the thematic content and voice-
leading in improvisation.35 Although not widely used, there are important insights to be gained
35 In Schenker analysis, based on the ideas of Heinrich Schenker, the voice leading of a piece of music or solo is broken down into three increasingly deep layers of tonal structure and voice leading: foreground, middleground, and background. Strict Schenker analysis has not been widely adopted in jazz analysis, though, for a number of reasons. First, it is a difficult analytical technique to master, especially considering the harmonic complexities found in jazz. The use of parallel motion, unresolved dissonances, polychords, absence of tonic-dominant harmonic orientation, and pieces without clear tonal centers all create significant difficulties for the analyst. Second, the background layer (the most fundamental layer of structure) is not present in many solos on a consistent basis. Third, at the deeper levels of analysis, where the music is boiled down to a basic structural model, many of the unique artistic qualities of the music have been removed, leaving little to indicate what is being communicated by the improviser. See Steve Larson, “Schenkerian Analysis of Modern Jazz: Questions about Method,” Music Theory Spectrum, Vo. 20, No. 2 (Autumn, 1998), pp. 209-41, http://www.jstor.org/stable/746048;
14
from an examination of voice-leading, and some scholars have modified Schenker’s techniques
to create a more basic “reductive” analysis.
The musical-rhetorical analysis proposed here has the most in common with motivic
analysis, but its focus is different, and in many ways richer and more detailed. It views
improvisation as existing within a community consisting of the artist, fellow musicians, and
listeners. Since the discipline of rhetoric is the study of the means of communication, this
analysis goes beyond traditional approaches because it encourages the analyst to ask why the
musician made a given musical gesture and what that gesture means. This type of analysis also
recognizes the important role that rhetorical devices play in the ability of the listener to grasp and
retain musical ideas. The solos examined here indicate that this is a productive line of inquiry:
the most memorable improvisations tend to be the ones that take the best advantage of rhetorical
devices, often in combination. Finally, the dialogic nature of musician interaction and other
uniquely African American communication strategies can be incorporated into the analysis.
The methodology used to accomplish the research objectives involves identifying both
Western and African American musical-rhetorical figures and applying them to jazz
improvisation analysis. Based on the musical-rhetorical devices found in the six artists’ solos
analyzed in this study, many of the musical-rhetorical figures identified by Baroque and later
common practice era music theorists can be found in improvisation. Also, the African American
rhetorical principles identified by a number of scholars point the way toward additional musical
rhetorical devices that apply to jazz improvisation.
Jessica Destramps, “Schenker ’Time After Time:’ A Modified Approach to Improvisation of Recent Jazz Saxophonists” (Master’s thesis, Tufts University, 2012), http://www.searchproquest.com/docview/1023459285?accountid=14553.
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This study identifies approximately three dozen European-based devices that can be used
in improvisation analysis, grouped into categories indicated by their structural and/or affective
functions. These categories include figures of repetition; balance, symmetry, order, and contrast;
amplification; silence and omission; and dialogue. While there is no commonly accepted method
of categorizing rhetorical figures, the terms repetition, balance, amplification, and omission have
meaning to scholars of rhetoric and bring to mind a number of rhetorical devices that fall under
each heading.36 Due to the interpersonal nature of message crafting and delivery in jazz
improvisation, the dialogue category is more substantial in music than in the Western rhetorical
oratory tradition, and so is included in this list. This category also contains a few uniquely
African American musical-rhetorical figures. An additional category, signifying and indirection,
is drawn strictly from the African American rhetorical tradition and contains a number of
additional figures I have identified and included in this study. Each of the musical-rhetorical
categories used in this study reflects a different strategy improvisers can employ to persuasively
get their message across to the listener.
In order to provide a framework for the rhetorical analysis used in this study, chapter two
provides an overview of the two rhetorical traditions upon which jazz draws: the Western
European, via the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the African American, via the Africans and
ancient Egyptians. Musical-rhetorical retentions of these two traditions are also examined.
Chapter three contains an in-depth discussion of the musical-rhetorical figures in the
context of six improvised solos. The musicians selected for this study, Lester Young, Jim Hall,
Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and Steve Lacy were carefully chosen as artists who
represent “best practices” in their ability to develop ideas and communicate in a way that tells a
36 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 181; Edward P.J. Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 427-44.
16
story and is reflected in their significant use of rhetorical figures in their improvisations. In artist
and solo selection, consideration was also given to variety in personal style, style period and
musical genre, instrumental variety, and diversity in the use of musical-rhetorical figures.
As each new figure is identified in chapter three, it is defined and discussed in the context
of the solo in which it is first encountered. Each solo analysis also brings out the most salient
musical and rhetorical features of each improvisation, including how the rhetorical figures relate
to motivic use and development and the artist’s persuasive ability to communicate his message.
Finally, throughout the chapter, arguments are made as to the unique role rhetorical analysis can
play in improvisation analysis. Occasionally, the case for rhetorical analysis is made through
comparison to the previous work of other jazz improvisation scholars.
The three appendices are also worth noting here. Appendix A includes a chart of all of
the musical-rhetorical figures used in the solo analysis, with definitions, examples, and cross-
referencing of terms between some of the rhetorical sources used in the research for this study.
Appendix B includes the complete solo transcriptions for the six solos analyzed in this study.
Appendix C presents a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream…”
speech. Many of the rhetorical devices used in the solo analysis have rhetorical counterparts in
this famous oration; several examples from the speech are used to shed light on the use of a
musical-rhetorical figure.
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CHAPTER TWO: SYNTHESIS OF THE WESTERN EUROPEAN AND
AFRICAN/AFRICAN AMERICAN RHETORICAL AND MUSICAL-RHETORICAL
TRADITIONS
The Western European Rhetorical Tradition
The discipline of rhetoric in Western culture dates to the fifth century B.C. in Greece. It
was used by lawyers and statesmen in crafting and delivering persuasive arguments to advance
their ideas in the court of law and political chambers. Over time, the ideas of Athenian rhetorical
scholars and philosophers such as Aristotle became codified in a coherent system of rhetoric that
was taught in schools and academies. Greek rhetorical concepts were eventually adopted by the
Romans, along with many aspects of Greek culture.37
Two important rhetorical ideas came into being by the time of Cicero and Quintilian,
Rome’s most important rhetorical scholars. One of these notions is the division of rhetoric into
five canons, a division which holds to this day. Cicero documented these canons as follows:
1) Inventio (invention): the subject matter of the speech;
2) Dispositio (arrangement): the logical arrangement of the arguments;
3) Elocutio, Decoratio, or Elaboratio (style): the translation of the ideas into words and
sentences using rhetorical devices;
4) Memoria (memory): the learning and memorizing of the speech for effortless delivery;
5) Actio or Pronuntiatio (delivery): the polishing of the pronunciation, tonal inflections,
and physical gestures used in the speech.38
37 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 64-65. 38 Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 22-28.
18
The second important concept is that of the rhetorical figures, part of elocution. The
Greeks used the term “schemata” to refer to both rhetoric styles and the means of elaborating
ideas in crafting an expressive speech. Cicero translated schemata into Latin as “figura,” a term
that Quintilian later used in his treatise Institutio Oratoria to refer to the embellishing devices
that included both tropes and rhetorical figures.39,40 In fact, as Dietrich Bartel writes,
“Quintilian’s teachings on the rhetorical figures are indisputably the most significant and
influential writings on the subject, remaining authoritative throughout the medieval,
Renaissance, and Baroque eras.”41 One of the key teachings of Quintilian that influenced
European thinking in the Renaissance and Baroque was that a skillful use of rhetorical figures
creates an affect in listeners that makes them more receptive to the speaker’s ideas.42
Following the fall of Rome around 400, the Western rhetorical discipline fell into decline
for nearly a millennium, as did most intellectual pursuits. The rediscovery of ancient Greek and
Roman culture in the 14th century was a key factor in the rise of Western Europe during the
Renaissance. Rhetoric had a role to play, with Classical writings having a profound impact on
the written and spoken word and also on music.
39 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 66-68. 40 Both tropes and figures of speech involve using language in a way that deviates from the norm. Tropes involve changing the signification of a word or phrase from what is normally intended; for example, a typical trope is irony, where the intended meaning is the opposite of what it said. Rhetorical figures may involve novel word choice or the use of patterns or unique structures in the arrangement of words or sentences. Alliteration and assonance are examples of rhetorical figures. More than just a way to embellish language, Aristotle saw tropes and figures of speech as a way to make language lively and interesting so that the speaker’s message could be communicated clearly and persuasively. See Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 424-26. 41 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 69. 42 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 71.
19
The Western European Musical-Rhetorical Tradition
The influence of rhetoric on music in Europe was strongest between 1500 and 1800.43 In
France and particularly Italy, musical-rhetorical thinking drew more from oratory and the
delivery of the message (actio) than from the more theoretical rhetoric involved with the crafting
of the message. The operative metaphor was that of the musician as an actor delivering his
lines.44 In post-Reformation Germany, however, the influence of Martin Luther led musical-
rhetorical thought in a different direction. Here it was the playwright, rather than the actor, who
was the key player, with the rhetorical focus placed on inventio, dispositio, and elocutio. Luther
believed in the power of music via the composer, who was to draw upon the religious musical
text to craft his piece to communicate the appropriate affect to the listener. In experiencing and
rationally understanding this affect, the listener would then be in a receptive state to receive
God’s message without any intermediary.45
Following Luther, and drawing heavily on the rhetorical writings of Cicero, Quintilian,
and the Renaissance humanist Johannes Sustenbrotus, German Baroque scholars promoted
musica poetica. Originally an approach to composition that used the rhetorical power of
accompanimental music to communicate the affect of the vocal text, musica poetica was later
applied to strictly instrumental composition.46 Although many musical elements such as tempo,
43 Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, i. 44 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 59-64. 45 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 5-8. 46 Prior to the Renaissance, the ideas of the late Classical period Roman philosopher and mathematician Boethius held sway, and music was seen as reflecting the divine order in the universe in the same way as the sciences and mathematics. During the Renaissance, music came to be aligned more with the other arts and humanism. This eventually led to the Baroque concept of Musica poetica, where the composer was seen as a musical poet. See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 11-16.
20
rhythm, mode, and interval combinations were considered to impact affect, Baroque composers
focused on musical-rhetorical figures as a primary means of expressing the affections.47
Many musical-rhetorical figures were defined and discussed in detail in the post-
Reformation writings of scholars from the Lutheran Kantor tradition. Beginning with Joachim
Burmeister, and extending through Johann Matteson and Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the rhetorical
pursuits of a long line of German music scholars helped shape compositional thinking and
technique. Although the Age of Enlightenment and Romanticism eventually brought about a
change in how rhetoric, musical-rhetoric and rhetorical education was viewed, the influence of
musical-rhetoric was already guaranteed in concepts and traditions that became embedded in the
compositional process between 1500 and 1800 in Europe.48 These traditions held within them
musical-rhetorical figures that can be identified in composers of the Baroque thorough American
20th century Tin Pan Alley.
The African American Rhetorical Tradition
In contrast to the Western rhetorical approach, where a lone speaker brings the audience
around to a desired viewpoint through individual rhetorical skill, the African rhetorical process
has a reciprocal quality. The message is constructed by all participants, as the listeners give
feedback to the speaker during the speech process, and the speaker’s ideas incorporate this
47 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 30. 48 Many 18th century scholars have commented on the similarities between literature and music, particularly in the areas of grammar and rhetoric, as seen in the common use of terms in the two arts. “Meter,” “rhythm,” and “cadence” all show common structural similarities; “theme,” “period,” “phrase,” and “composition” all indicate similarities in how form is conceptualized. See Bonds, Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of the Oration, 6, 68.
21
feedback.49 The philosophical underpinnings of this practice can be traced back to the tenets of
Maat in ancient Egypt: truth, justice, balance, harmony, reciprocity, and an overriding belief in
the oneness of all things.50 Extending beyond Egypt, Afrocentric scholars view Maat as the
underlying basis for spiritual and communicative practice throughout Africa and to countries of
the African Diaspora. The principles of Maat are reflected in nommo, the creative life force of
the spoken word.51 Originating from the creator or spirit realm, nommo is manifested in human
communication and is necessary for discourse to take place. In keeping with the Maat ideas of
balance, harmony and reciprocity, nommo does not just reside in the speaker, but is found in all
participants of the communication process.52 Nommo is sacred and shared, characterized by
ongoing dialogue, rather than monologue. In all forms of African American communication,
nommo is manifested in an African retention commonly referred to as “call and response.”53
In addition to call and response, there are other important manifestations of nommo. In
his analysis of African American rhetorical practices, Jeffrey Lynn Woodward lists nine
49 Thurmon Garner and Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, “African American Orality: Expanding Rhetoric” in Understanding African American Rhetoric, ed. Ronald L. Jackson II and Elaine B. Richardson (New York: Routledge, 2003), 43-54. 50 Maulana Karenga, “Nommo, Kawaida, and Communicative Practice: Bringing Good into the World,” In Understanding African American Rhetoric, ed. Ronald L. Jackson II and Elaine B. Richardson (New York: Routledge, 2003), 11-15.
51 The word “nommo” comes from the Dogon people of Mali, but the underlying concept of a spiritual energy and power embedded in the spoken word is found throughout Africa. See Adisa A. Alkebulan, “The Spiritual Essence of African American Rhetoric” in Understanding African American Rhetoric, ed. Ronald L. Jackson II and Elaine B. Richardson (New York: Routledge, 2003), 28-30.
52 Jeffrey Lyon Woodward, “Africological Theory and Criticism: Reconceptualizing Communications Constructs” in Understanding African American Rhetoric, ed. Ronald L. Jackson II and Elaine B. Richardson (New York: Routledge, 2003), 143-44. 53 Alkebulan, “The Spiritual Essence of African American Rhetoric,” 37-38. See also Smitherman, Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, 104. Smitherman refers to call and response as “a basic organizing principle of Black American culture generally, for it enables traditional black folk to achieve the unified state of balance or harmony which is fundamental to the traditional African view.”
22
manifestations of nommo. These manifestations are key features of this rhetorical practice and
also function as its guiding principles:
1) Rhythm as a frame of mentality: to be effective, a speaker must demonstrate mastery of
“musical speech” through skilled use of patterns and rhythms, modulations of voice
attributes (pitch, loudness, rate of speech, and pauses), and the overall flow of speech;
2) Stylin’ out as a quality of oration: the use of all manner of non-verbal communication
that draws on both culturally meaningful conventions and personal style to favorably
influence the listener;
3) Soundin’ as verbal artifact: similar to stylin’ out, vocal mannerisms are used in a
conventional or an individual style and serve as vocal cues to the listener;
4) Lyrical approach to language: in certain rhetorical situations, language is used in a
narrative manner that is suitable for poetry and song;
5) Call and response of participation: the message is crafted by both the listeners, who
respond to the speaker’s message or call, and the speaker, who incorporates the listener’s
response into the message;
6) Preference for improvisational delivery: while the message is partly crafted before
delivery, the call and response dynamic requires the speaker to use improvisation to
complete the message;
7) Reliance on mythoforms: using myths that connect to the shared, everyday experience
(past, present, and future) of the community of listeners, speakers rely on a narrative,
story-telling approach to communication;
23
8) Use of indirection: the speaker approaches the issue at hand in a circuitous fashion,
examining it from various angles with new images and metaphors to arouse listener
interest and participation in the message;
9) Repetition for intensification: the speaker uses repetition and restatement to clarify the
meaning of the message and allow for the listener to fully absorb it.54
The African American Musical-Rhetorical Tradition
Just as there are many commonalities between the Western rhetorical and musical-
rhetorical traditions, numerous similarities exist between the African American rhetorical and
musical-rhetorical traditions. Many of the nommo manifestations previously noted by
Woodward in African American rhetorical practice have counterparts in black music. Samuel
Floyd Jr. makes this connection through his research into the ring shout, a vehicle through which
African values, modes of communication, and musical practices were brought to America by the
slaves.55 Combining dance and music, African American ring participants moved in a
counterclockwise circle with shuffling, hand-clapping and knee-slapping, and responsorial
singing with blue note inflections.56 In the ring, Floyd finds the spirit of nommo permeating
54 Woodward, “Africological Theory and Criticism: Reconceptualizing Communications Constructs,” 140-41. In a similar fashion, Geneva Smitherman uses the following categories to discuss “black modes of discourse:” call-response; signification (similar in function to Woodward’s indirection); tonal semantics; and narrative sequencing. See Smitherman, Talkin and Testifyin, 103. 55 Coming from different areas of West Africa, many slaves did not share a common language, but most West African societies had “possession dances,” where dancers would take on attributes of and become the medium for various gods. Although the geometric structure of dances varied, the most common construction included dancers ringed around musicians. These ritualized ring dances symbolized community, solidarity, affirmation, and catharsis. See Floyd, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States, 20-21. 56 For video demonstration of a modern recreation of a ring shout, see Library of Congress, “McIntosh County Shouters: Gullah-Geechee Ring Shout from Georgia,” YouTube video, 57:06, April 12, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxPU5517u8c.
24
black consciousness and black music traditions: “In the cultural memory of African Americans,
life is cyclic, as is time, as is their music – and all of these elements symbolize the ring…”57 One
of the musical concepts that Floyd associates with the ring is what he calls “the master musical
trope of Call-Response…a musical principle [based on] a dialogical musical rhetoric.”58 This
conversational approach to music incorporates a number of musical-rhetorical counterparts to
Woodward’s rhetorical manifestations of nommo, listed above. Although Floyd discusses and
lists ring retentions in a number of his writings,59 his analysis of Jelly Roll Morton’s 1926
recording of “Black Bottom Stomp” is a good source for examining the most important points of
intersection between the ring and African American rhetorical qualities.
Drawing on Gunther Schuller’s analysis of the Morton classic,60 Floyd overlays ring
elements on top of Schuller’s structural, harmonic, and thematic analysis. Floyd writes, “The
performance is governed by the Call-Response principle, relying upon the Signifyin(g) elisions
[smears], responses to calls, improvisations (in fact or in style), continuous drive, and timbral
and pitch distortions that I have identified as retentions from the ring.”61 A number of
Woodward’s nommo manifestations are found here – use of indirection, call and response
participation, preference for improvisational delivery, and soundin’ out as verbal artifact.
57 Floyd, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States, 229-31. 58 Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 276. 59 One of the most complete lists of ring retentions is found in The Power of Black Music: “call, cries, hollers; call and response devices, additive rhythms and polyrhythms; heterophony, pendular thirds, blues notes, bent notes, and elisions; hums, moans, grunts, vocables, and other rhythmic-oral declamations, interjections, and punctuations; off-beat melodic phrasings and parallel intervals and chords; constant repetition of rhythmic and melodic figures and phrases (from which riffs and vamps would be derived); timbral distortions of various kinds; musical individuality within collectivity; game rivalry, hand clapping, foot patting, and approximations thereof; apart-playing; and the metronomic pulse that underlies all African-American music.” See Floyd, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States, 6.
60 See Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 155-61. 61 Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 279.
25
The signifying that Floyd mentions is a prism through which he views Morton’s piece
and draws upon the work of the African American Literature scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
According to Gates, “Repetition, with a signal difference, is fundamental to the nature of
Signfyin(g).”62 Gates’ signifying concept is cut from the same cloth as the indirection referenced
above by Floyd and also incorporates Woodward’s repetition for intensification. Signifying is
the art of metaphor, of saying one thing and meaning another, but it occurs in the context of
referencing the model upon which the signifying variation is based. This is a quality found in all
types of African American communication. In “Black Bottom Stomp” Floyd sees signifying in
the rhythmic qualities, the improvisations, and the interplay between instruments: two-beat,
four-beat, cross-rhythms, and additive rhythms signify on the time line and each other; one solo
signifies upon another or upon Morton’s melodies; a trombone smear signifies on a clarinet. In
addition to previously noted nommo manifestations, the signifying rhythms noted by Floyd add
Woodward’s rhythm as a frame of mentality. Floyd concludes his analysis by borrowing again
from Gates work when he describes the “semantic value” of the performance and how the
“performers contribute to the success of a performance with musical statements, assertions,
allegations, questing, requesting, implications, mocking, and concurrences that result in…what
black performers mean when they say that they ‘tell a story’ when they improvise.”63 This view
of the piece is also in alignment with the nommo manifestation of reliance on mythoforms.
62 Gates, The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, 51. 63 Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 281. It should be noted that while Floyd identifies many ring elements in this piece, the analysis only identifies them by the section of the piece in which they occur; no notated examples are provided to specifically identify their precise location. The analysis provided in chapter three of this research study goes beyond what Floyd does in his “Black Bottom Stomp” investigation to identify and specifically label the rhetorical devices in the context of transcribed notation.
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Combining the Western European and African American Musical-Rhetorical Traditions
To this point, the Western and Afrological rhetorical traditions have been discussed and
traced into music separately, but the traditions can be combined in a coherent approach to
musical-rhetorical analysis in jazz improvisation. Most of the musical-rhetorical figures used in
this study come from the Western tradition and are grouped into the following broad categories:
figures of repetition; figures of balance, symmetry, order, and contrast; figures of amplification;
figures of silence and omission; and figures of dialogue. As indicated in chapter one, these
groupings have a historical basis in the rhetorical tradition.
As reflected in the large number of Western musical-rhetorical devices used in this study,
the key point is that African American music in general, and jazz specifically, has absorbed
many of the influences of Western music. This is particularly true in the areas of form and
harmony, but also in the areas of melodic structure and development. Accordingly, the Western
musical-rhetorical figures used in the analysis of this study are a good starting point in analyzing
jazz improvisation. For example, the musical signifying discussed above overlaps nicely with
the motivic development found in common practice Western European musical heritages. Floyd
explains how African American musicians borrow from and signify on this Western heritage.
They restate or rework pre-existing material, and in doing so either show reverence or
irreverence for the material and the underlying musical values: “Signifyin(g) is . . . a way of
demonstrating respect for, goading, or poking fun at a musical style, process, or practice through
parody, pastiche, implication, indirection, humor, tone- or word-play, the illusions of speech or
narration, and other troping mechanisms.”64 Olly Wilson is another scholar who comments on
the African American absorption and reinterpretation of White musical heritage in the troping of
64 Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 271.
27
a number of musical styles and forms, particular in jazz. He refers to this as a musical
representation of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “American ideal within the black consciousness,” reflecting a
duality in the African American experience as a dialogue is established between White and Black
cultures. 65
This duality also brings us back to the theme of dialogue that was examined earlier in the
discussion of nommo and African retentions. The importance of dialogue in African American
communication and music is one of the main distinctions between the Western and Afrological
rhetorical and musical-rhetorical traditions. This difference can be seen in two related ways.
First, as discussed previously, the Western rhetorical tradition has historically focused on the
speaker and his or her use of rhetorical devices and strategies to persuade and influence the
listener (and entertain the listener, in the case of music). In African American rhetoric, though,
the retentions of Maat and nommo have led to a rhetorical practice that is dialogic. Second,
whereas the musical-rhetorical devices derived from the Western tradition have been applied to
composition, the real-time nature of jazz improvisation is such that the message is shaped by not
just the jazz soloist, but also by fellow musicians and feedback from the community of listeners.
In addition to the Western musical-rhetorical devices, the unique, conversational nature
of jazz improvisation necessitates the inclusion of additional, African American musical-rhetoric
figures. These include figures of dialogue (including call and response), indirection, and
signifying. This study also identifies and uses other unique musical-rhetorical devices that relate
only tangentially to dialogue, but relate to other African retentions or African American
rhetorical practice, for example tonal semantics, or the recitation tone found in Black preaching.
By combining the Western and Afrological traditions, this study is unique and presents a more
65 Wilson, “Black Music as an Art Form,” 9.
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comprehensive view of the musical-rhetoric of jazz improvisation than has been offered in
previous studies.
Scientific Rationale for Rhetorical Analysis: Neuroscience Connections between Language
and Music
Earlier in this chapter, the five canons of rhetoric were presented. Additional explanation
of these divisions is needed to understand the rhetorical categories used in the improvisation
analysis and make important connections between language, musical improvisation, and
neuroscience. In the first three divisions, inventio, dispositio, and elocutio, the subject matter is
first chosen, the ideas are arranged and ordered for effective communication, and finally the
concepts are translated into language using rhetorical devices. In speech writing or musical
composition, the communicator crafts the message by moving through each rhetorical stage
discretely and over an extended period of time. In the areas of impromptu speech and musical
improvisation, however, the real-time nature of the process dramatically condenses the time
frame as the communicator moves rapidly between these stages, perhaps even dealing with them
at the same time. Despite this difference, the rhetorical divisions still provide a sound
framework for building a model of jazz improvisation analysis, as recent scholarship in the
neuroscience of musical improvisation indicates.
The idea that the brain can be formulating a coherent message during improvisation by
working on different musical tasks simultaneously is supported by the research of Roger E.
Beaty. He notes that brain tasks such as perception of relevant musical sensory information,
memory retrieval, motor skill control, and performance monitoring require simultaneous
execution in real-time. He goes on to say that “Deliberate practice automates some of these
29
processes, freeing other attentional resources for other higher order processes (e.g. generating
and evaluating musical ideas). In the absence of such improvisational fluency, the improviser
will have difficulty interacting with other members of an ensemble and exerting control over the
development of his or her performance.”66 In the context of musical interaction via trading of
four-bar phrases by improvising pianists, Gabriel Donay and his colleagues illuminate the music-
language connection. The researchers noted examples of repetition, transposition, contour
imitation and inversion, and other motivic development strategies – musical techniques that are
all rhetorical in nature. They also took brain MRIs of the musicians and discovered that the
neural pathways used during improvisation are the same as those used during verbal
communication.67 This research indicates that the structural aspects of both verbal and musical
thought are similar rhetorically in both pre-planned and real-time communication.
66 Beaty, “The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation,” 109. 67 Donay, Rankin, Lopez-Gonzalez, Jiradejvong, and Limb. “Neural Substrates of Interactive Musical
improvisation: An fMRI study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz,” 1-8. The commonalities in parallel processing brain pathways in verbal speech and musical improvisation are also confirmed by researcher Shelly Carson. See Carson, Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life, 237-246.
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CHAPTER THREE: MUSICAL-RHETORICAL SOLO ANALYSIS
Notes on the Analysis and Notation
Over the course of the six improvisations analyzed here, all of the musical-rhetorical
figures found in these solos are presented and explained. In the process, the written analysis for
each solo has different focal points that attempt to bring out the unique and salient qualities of
the improvisation and the artist’s style. Not all of the rhetorical categories are addressed in the
written analysis accompanying each solo, but it is important to keep in mind that at least one or
two (and usually many more) rhetorical figures in each category are used in each of the six solos.
The complete transcription of each improvisation is included in appendix B. In addition, a chart
of all of the rhetorical devices, grouped by category, is found in appendix A.
The analysis uses six main categories of rhetorical figures: repetition; balance, symmetry,
order, and contrast; amplification; silence and omission; dialogue; and signifying and indirection.
There are also a few additional figures that do not fit neatly into one of the above categories and
are explained as they occur. Each time a new musical-rhetorical device is mentioned, its name
occurs in bold print. Similarly, each time a new (language-based) rhetorical device is mentioned,
its name occurs in italics. For a few figures, the musical-rhetorical and rhetorical names are the
same; a bold/italics combination designates this. Some of the devices are abbreviated in the
notation; the first time the term is used the abbreviation occurs in parentheses. For example, all
types of repetition are abbreviated; any two letter abbreviation that ends in “R” indicates a type
of repetition. The abbreviations can also be found in the chart of musical figures in appendix A.
Also, since improvisation is real-time, the borders are blurred between rhetorical divisions, but
the canons are still worth keeping in mind while considering the rhetorical analysis:
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1) Inventio, where the main ideas, themes, or motives are created or chosen. The artists
included in this study make extensive use of thematic material – either original motives
or motivic use of the song’s melody.
2) Dispositio, where the ideas are ordered, arranged, and developed. The clearest
application of dispositio is found in the balance, symmetry, order, and contrast category.
Other rhetorical categories use this principle as well, particularly when a figure has
structural implications. An example of this is the use of repetition to connect distant
phrases.
3) Elocutio, where the ideas are transformed into language (notes) and rhetorical figures.
Less structural in nature than dispositio, many figures that do not extend beyond a phrase
can be included in this stage.
4) Memoria, where the ideas are memorized. In improvisation, the memory is used to
access vocabulary.
5) Actio, where the message is delivered. Some of the rhetorical figures depend on the
manner of delivery, for example tonal semantics and understatement.
The following guidelines are used in the notation. Solid lines indicate where musical-
rhetorical devices are being used. Dotted lines indicate a connection between two or more places
where a device is used, but is separated by time in the solo or where the relationship might
otherwise be unclear. To maintain clarity in the notation, whenever many measures separate the
completion of a device – for example beginning and ending repeat figures that are in different
phrases – only the repeated material is labeled, with a reference back to the measure numbers
where the material previously occurred. The most frequently used devices are the various types
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of repetition; the space above the solo is generally reserved for these figures, except when
additional space is needed for other categories of figures.
A harmonic analysis accompanies each solo, except for Steve Lacy’s performance of
“Longing” where there is no functional harmony. The chord symbols indicate what is played by
the rhythm section, not necessarily what the soloist is thinking. This is necessary to show where
harmonic generalization and indirection devices are used by the soloist, without the reader
having to transcribe what the rhythm section is playing to verify the devices. Also, in a number
of places “slash” chords are used to point out an important bass movement or to indicate where
there is a discrepancy between the harmonic choices made by the pianist and bassist.
Horace Silver’s Piano Solo on “The Tokyo Blues,” July 13, 1962
As do most of the artists included in this study, Horace Silver makes extensive use of
motives and motivic manipulation in “The Tokyo Blues.” The 10 motives he uses in this solo
provide a deep pool from which to draw in examining his rhetorical style. His presentation and
development of these motives includes figures from a number of rhetorical categories, including
repetition, and balance, symmetry, order, and contrast. In the latter category, figures that use
balance, symmetry and order assist the listener in organizing and clarifying the ideas contained
in the message, while figures that use contrast offer additional insight by way of comparison.
When combined with figures of repetition, the effect is powerful; the listener understands the
message clearly and remembers it. Motive a in “The Tokyo Blues” contains a number of
rhetorical devices. The motive is based on the song’s melody, the last eight bars of which are
shown in example 3.1.
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Example 3.1 The final eight measures of the melody of “The Tokyo Blues”
Trumpet and tenor saxophone play the top and bottom lines, respectively, with piano
doubling both lines. Taken from the top line, the ascending C, Eb, F motion in measure 9 and
the G, C, Eb movement in measures 12 to 14 combine to provide the material for motive a, found
in example 3.2.
Example 3.2 Motive a with retrograde and antithesis in the first half of chorus one of “The
Tokyo Blues”
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Motive a is treated more extensively than the other motives in the solo, and its
development includes a number of balance, symmetry, order, and contrast devices. Two of
these, retrograde and antithesis, occur in the opening bars of the solo, as indicated above in
example 3.2.
The motive is first subject to retrograde, commonly referred to as antimetabole in
Western rhetoric.68 This device reverses the order of words or notes to negate what has come
before, or present an alternate viewpoint.69 The four-note motive is stated firmly in measures
three and four, and three of the notes are then retrograded in measure five. Measures seven and
eight reaffirm the first two notes of the motive, before the entire motive is played again. In the
second full statement of the motive Silver plays the exact rhythmic values of the first statement,
but delays the start of the idea by an eighth note. Rather than retrograde the idea again, he
continues to move up to the Bb in measure 11, an octave above the previous Bb. These two
statements of motive a also reveal the second figure of contrast, antithesis.
As noted by Dietrich Bartel, Johann Nikolaus Forkel argues that antithesis is the use of
musical opposites as a way to clarify or prove the assertion of the original idea. Citing a number
of Baroque music scholars, Bartel indicates that antithesis can occur in a number of different
ways: contrasting affections, thematic material, harmonies, or rhythms, for example.70 A number
of these are seen in this excerpt. In addition to the phrase endings moving in opposite pitch
directions, the harmonies are dramatically different over the two iterations of motive a. In bar 3,
68 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 299. 69 Henry Louis Gates Jr. uses a rope-skipping chant created by schoolchildren in eastern Texas as an example
of signifying, or what he calls “repetition, with a signal difference.” The chant is also an example of antimetabole, with the “undoing” of what comes before. The first part of the chant repeats an anti-integration slogan from Arkansas used to oppose racial integration of the Little Rock public schools. The original chant, “Two, four, six, eight, we ain’t gonna integrate” is signified upon when the schoolchildren continue, beginning with a retrograde countdown: “Eight, six, four, two, bet you sons-of-bitches do.” See Gates, The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, 51, 103.
70 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 197-98.
35
the C minor chord is reinforced with triadic chord tones falling on the beat, but in measure seven,
these same notes fall on offbeats as extensions of the Db9(#11) harmony. The changes in
melodic construction, harmonic context, and rhythm also create a change in affect between the
phrases: the first is simple and well-considered, an emotionally low-key statement; the second is
more complex and excited, ending in a question that demands an answer. In the parlance of
Gates, the second motive statement signifies on the first; in effect, Silver says “I’m not where
you thought I was rhythmically, harmonically, or even stylistically.” Extending Gates signifying
concept from words into music, Samuel A. Floyd Jr. would see this as the jazz signification of
the Western European musical heritage: offbeats vs. onbeats and Charlie Parker’s polytonal
implications vs. common practice triadic harmonies.71
These first two statements of motive a also contain two types of rhetorical repetition:
beginning repetition and frame repetition. All the figures in this category help the listener
organize and remember the most important ideas in the communication. Used here in
conjunction with the retrograde and antithesis devices just discussed, repetition makes Silver’s
ideas stronger and more memorable. This “additive” quality is a key advantage of rhetorical
analysis: the most memorable and powerful ideas often combine several rhetorical devices from
a number of different categories and this is highlighted in the analysis.
71 In his analysis of Jelly Roll Morton’s “Black Bottom Stomp,” Floyd discusses improvisation that contains
signifying. It is “improvisation that Signifies on (1) the structure of the piece itself, (2) the current Signifying(s) of the other players in the group, and (3) the player’s own and others’ Signifying(s) in previous performances.” See Floyd, “Ring Shout!” Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 279-80. As to where the signifying basis of improvisation comes from, he says it is “based in cultural memory, where the intuitive resources and instinctive assets of Call-Response reside.” Among these assets are the troping devices that await recall at appropriate times, brought to fruition by the musician’s technical knowledge of musical structure and theory in a dialogical context. See Floyd, The Power of Black Music, 140.
36
Referred to as either anaphora or repetitio in rhetorical sources, beginning repetition
(labeled “BR”) occurs when two musical passages begin with the same note or set of notes.72
Example 3.3 shows the first occurrence of this in measures 3-4 and 9-10. This same excerpt also
demonstrates frame repetition (“FR”), known rhetorically as epanalepsis, which is the
“bookending” of an idea in a musical passage.73 The first two notes of motive a (G and C) are
used again in measures seven and eight, framing the six-measure phrase. This is a unique
occurrence of frame repetition, though, because the two notes also undergo expansion, a
rhetorical device of amplification. Expansion is used to elaborate on an idea or increase its
impact, which happens here with the new notes inserted between G and C in measure seven.74
Example 3.3 Beginning repetition and frame repetition with expansion in the first chorus of
“The Tokyo Blues”
72 See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 184-90; Lanham, A
Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 11, 130. 73 See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 256-58; Lanham, A
Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 66-67. 74 Although none of the Western rhetorical or musical rhetorical sources I have examined have a similar
concept, Paul Berliner refers to this as “phrase expansion through interpolation.” See Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, 189, 567.
37
Example 3.3 (cont.)
To conclude chorus one, Silver works with three of the four notes of the motive a
retrograde, expanding the idea with three types of repetition. Rephrased repetition (“RR”) is
simply a recasting of an idea. The rhetorical term is synonymia, related to the word “synonym,”
which provides a way of thinking of rephrased repetition: it is another way of saying the same
thing.75 The act of rephrasing gives the listener another way of understanding and remembering
the idea, often revealing structural aspects of the concept that make memory encoding more
successful. This happens in measures 12 and 13 where the retrograde of motive a is played and
then rephrased with additional notes and slight changes to the rhythm. Directly after this,
immediate repetition (“IR”), or epizeukis, is found in bars 13 to 16. In this figure, notes are
repeated without other notes intervening.76 Finally, the entire phrase from measures 12 to 16 is
connected through multiple connective repetition (“MCR”). With this device, the same pitch is
used to end one idea and begin another, occurring at least three times in succession. Here, the
second Eb in bar 12 connects to the Eb on the next downbeat (separated by a pick-up note); the C
pitches on beats three and four of measure 13 end one idea and begin the next; and the C
75 See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 405-08; Lanham, A
Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 148-149. 76 See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 263-64; Lanham, A
Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 70-71.
38
connection is repeated in the following measure. Rhetorically, this device is called gradatio, and
it allows the speaker to make a smooth, logical connection between ideas. These three types of
repetition are shown in example 3.4.
Example 3.4 Rhetorical figures in the last part of chorus one and the beginning of chorus two of
“The Tokyo Blues”
Multiple connection repetition is often combined with climax, a figure of amplification,
to create a series of parallel ideas that build to a high point,77 with the repeated notes functioning
as a jumping off point, as in example 3.5.
Example 3.5 Multiple connection repetition combined with climax
77 Some rhetorical sources do not make a distinction between climax and gradatio (see Bartel, Musica
Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 220-21; Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 36.) One rhetorician who does make this distinction is Richard Nordquist. He defines gradatio as an extended form of anadiplosis, where a word or phrase ends one idea and is immediately repeated to begin the next. See Nordquist, “Glossary of Rhetorical Terms.”
39
Silver uses this type of parallel structure, although without the climax, in the third chorus
to outline the extensions of a CMA13 chord in a descending arpeggio. This is shown in Example
3.6.
Example 3.6 Multiple connective repetition, chorus three of “The Toyko Blues
Everything discussed in the solo to this point is typical of Silver’s playing: pithy ideas
played with a precise, yet swinging sense of time. In measures 20 to 22, however, he deviates
from this model with an idea that seems “wordy,” with rhythms that go against the time and
exaggerate the flourish. Example 3.7 shows how a combination of rhetorical devices used
together convert this idea from what could have been a trite scale pattern into a grander gesture.
Example 3.7 Rhetorical devices in combination to create indirection in “The Toyko Blues”
The passage ascends up a C minor scale to the sixth scale degree and then descends down
with a stepwise sequence, or transposed repetition (“TR”). Rhetorically, this is called
40
polyptoton.78 Had Silver simply played this four-note sequence directly in swing eighth notes
and stuck to only notes of the C minor scale, this phrase would have sounded trite. Instead, he
uses time indirection (“TI”) with a delivery that plays against the beat, with an implied
accelerando in measure 21 and the first part of 22.79 As the phrase progresses he adds additional
indirection when he converts the C minor scale material into a harmonically unresolved whole-
tone scale. Taken together, these musical characteristics create circumlocution, sometimes
referred to as periphrasis in rhetorical sources. The sources that use the term periphrasis usually
define it as the use of superfluous words in getting the point across, although Quintillian notes
that the figure should also have a positive decorative effect.80 When the rhetorical term
circumlocution is used, a purposefully vague and evasive quality is also implied in the
communication.81 The musical rhetorical device of circumlocution used in this example draws
on both rhetorical terms to refer to an artful, yet redundant passage whose muscial meaning is
communicated indirectly. Both the time indirection and circumlocution devices Silver uses in
this phrase belong to the category of figures of signifying and indirection. This category
contains devices that are uniquely African American in nature, or used in a way that is uniquely
African American. The two figures found here show how indirection is used to both signify on a
78 The Baroque music scholar Mauritius Vogt makes the link between a melodic pattern that is repeated at
different pitches and the polyptoton discussed by both the Roman rhetorician Susenbrotus (the repetition of a word using different case endings) and the Baroque rhetorician Johann Christoph Gottsched (a word repeated with different grammatical alterations). See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 367-69.
79 According to Floyd, cross-rhythms, polyrhythms, syncopation, back-beats, and other forms of rhythm construction that go against the metrical beat structure are examples of signifying through what he calls “tropings of the time-line.” See Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 279-80.
80 Tom Beghin, “Haydn as Orator: A Rhetorical Analysis of his Keyboard Sonata in D Major, Hob.XVI:42,” In Haydn and His World, ed. Elaine Sisman, 201-254 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), 215. See also Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 450. Corbett adds the following to periphrasis: “expressing the familiar in uncommon ways.”
81 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 36, 114. Lanham equates periphrasis and circumlocution and concentrates on the evasive, “speaking around” quality in his definitions (36).
41
scalar sequence common in Western art music and also provide a contrast and balance to Silver’s
direct and concise playing earlier in the solo.
Immediately after the roundabout figure found in measures 20 to 22, Silver turns to
another, more subtle, form of signfiying and indirection in the last phrase of chorus two –
harmonic generalization. This device allows him to once again work motive a material into a
coherent and well-balanced phrase using just the C minor scale and Cmi7 arpeggio over five
different chords. The harmonic analysis provided in example 3.8 provides an alternate way of
conceptualizing the harmonic context of Silver’s line with extensions and alterations; for
example, the C minor triad outlined in measure 25 can be thought of as the #11, 9th, and 7 of a
DbMA9(#11) chord or as a Cmi/Db slash chord. Looking at the phrase as a whole, however,
and especially considering the harmonic disagreement between the Db sonority and the C minor
scale fragment in bar 26, a more cogent analysis is to view the entire passage as a harmonic
generalization of C minor.
Adding to the coherence and balanced proportions of this eight-bar phrase is sentence
structure, a figure of balance, symmetry, order, and contrast. Although not discussed in any of
the rhetorical sources examined, sentence structure is often discussed in phrase and motivic
analysis and functions much the same as many of the other figures in this rhetorical category.
Common in Classical-era melodic construction, sentence structure phrasing contains a 1:1:2
division.82 Treating the first five notes in measure 24 as pick-up notes, the aa’b structure of this
phrase follows the correct poportions with measure lengths of 2:2:4. The harmonic
generalization and sentence structure used in this phrase are shown in example 3.8.
82 Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin, The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis, 2nd ed.
(New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011), 362.
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Example 3.8 A well-balanced phrase using harmonic generalization and sentence structure in
“The Toyko Blues”
Rhetorically, this is a strong passage because Silver carefully manages the harmonic
tension and dissonance in this generalization process, and also because of the number of other
devices he uses to make the phrase so clear, memorable, and symmetrical. Previously discussed
figures of repetition are used again, most notably beginning repetition. This type of repetition
occurs in phrases beginning in measures 3, 10 (see example 3.2) and here in 24; motive a now
includes an added D, and the rhythmic values are compressed. Another beginning repetition
connecting measures 24 and 26 is nicely balanced by the connective repetition (“CR”) in
measures 25-26 and 27-28. The last connective repetition smoothly connects to the second half
of the phrase where transposed and rephrased repetition slowly resolves the accumulated tension
from the first half of the phrase. These repetitions are highlighted in example 3.9.
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Example 3.9 Multiple repetition types used in “The Toyko Blues”
After using motive a extensively in the first two choruses, Silver introduces a number of
new motives which are exclusively repeated, manipulated, or developed strictly within the
chorus in which they occur, with one exception. Four measures before chorus five Silver returns
briefly to the last three notes of motive a. He even retrogrades the idea, just as he does in the
first chorus. Although the harmonic context is different, these three notes also outline the riff-
oriented theme of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca, which shares a number of melodic and rhythmic
similarities to what Silver plays. It is impossible to know if it was Silver’s intention to call this
song to mind, but the similarity is unmistakable. Examples 3.10 and 3.11 show Gillespie’s
melody and Silver’s motive a derivation/”Manteca” paraphrase.
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Example 3.10 Measures 5-8 of the main theme of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” (transposed from
the original key of Bb)
Example 3.11 Motive a/“Manteca” paraphrase in “The Tokyo Blues”
This is the first of two back-to-back examples of Silver’s use of mimicry. African
American rhetoric scholar Geneva Smitherman describes mimicry as “a deliberate imitation of
the speech and mannerisms of someone [that] may be used for authenticity, ridicule, or rhetorical
effect.” Using rappers as an example, she goes on to say that “they attempt to quote in the tone
of voice, the gestures, and particularly idiom and language characterisitics of that person.”83
Musically, mimicry occurs as a quote or paraphrase of a song’s melody or someone’s previous
improvisation, or through a stylistic reference to a genre or a musician’s style. Two bars into
Silver’s signifying on Gillespie’s afro-Cuban classic, the drummer responds with a set-up to
chorus five, the first of two full choruses of call-and-response between piano and drums.
Whether or not “Manteca” is used as a signal, it is appropriate that this reference to a highly
percussive style of music proceeds this interaction with the drums.
83 Smitherman, Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, 94.
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The second use of mimicry occurs in both call-and-response choruses. In the first 12
measures of each chorus, Silver plays simple riff ideas in perfect fourths. This fourth treatement
is similar to that used in the first 12 measures of the melody (see the first four bars of example
3.1). The top line of this fourth planing outlines an Eb pentatonic scale and when combined with
the fourth interval below is a clear imitation of the music of Eastern Asia, specifically Japanese
melodic structure. Example 3.12 shows the first few bars of mimicry at the beginning of chorus
five.
Example 3.12 Mimicry and tonal semantics in chorus five of “The Toyko Blues”
In addition to mimicry, Silver also uses another figure of signifying and indirection in the
parallel fourths passage. Tonal semantics occurs when the meaning of a musical gesture is
conveyed more by the sound properties of the notes than by their musical logic and structure.
Other common examples of tonal semantics include manipulations of timbre, articulation, and
pitch.84 The juxtaposition of the pentatonic scale planed in fourths, the afro-Cuban rhythmic
style of the piece, and the “Manteca” reference at the end of the prior chorus bring to life Silver’s
comments from the liner notes of The Tokyo Blues: “While in Japan, I noticed that the Japanese
people were very fond of Latin music, which I am also very fond of. In writing some of these
84 Geneva Smitherman lists tonal semantics as one of a number of rhetorical qualities that characterize
African American communication. She notes that the choice of words and phrases for their sound properties, rather than their precise semantic meaning, can be more important in getting the message across to the audience. See Smitherman, Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, 99-100.
46
compositions, I have attempted to combine the Japanese feeling in the melodies with the Latin
feeling in the rhythms.”85
The beginning of chorus five is also highly structured by previously used devices –
beginning repetition and sentence structure – and three new rhetorical figures. The first new
figure is tricolon, where three parallel ideas of the same length are found in succession. The
“rule of three” or the “power of three” is a touted technique used in persuasive communication,
and the related rhetorical concept of tricolon is well-known to rhetoricans who find it frequently
in different styles of prose. This device and its sibling isocolon (successive parallel ideas of
equal length) are specific cases of parallelism.86 In Thinking Jazz, Paul Berliner devotes a
chapter to the different stratgies jazz improvisers use to create musical logic and develop their
ideas. He recognizes the importance of parallelism when he writes “artists may create a sense of
balance and continuity within the larger designs of long consecutive phrases by remembering
and using phrase length itself as a model.”87
The three four-bar phrases found in example 3.13 are an excellent example of tricolon,
this specific case of parallelism. This tricolon grouping is strengthened by the beginning
repetition used to start each phrase in measures 65, 69, and 73. Giving even more weight and
focus to the ideas in this chorus, Silver superimposes two back-to-back instances of sentence
structure on top of the four-bar phrasing. The first occurrence runs over two phrases in measures
65 to 72 with a 2:2:4 bar relationship. The sentence structure is created by the similarity in
measures 65, 67, and 69, with contrasting material in measure 71 that resists the two-bar
85 Horace Silver, Liner Notes, The Tokyo Blues, The Horace Silver Quintet, Blue Note 65146, 2009 (1962
recording and notes), compact disc. 86 Kip L. Wheeler, “Schemes,” Rhetoric, last modified March 2, 2015,
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/schemes.html. 87 Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, 198.
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chunking of the previous measures. Note how the sentence structure bisects the first leg of the
tricolon (measures 65 to 68) and then how the sentence structure begins its second iteration when
the third leg of the tricolon starts in measure 73. These different layers of organization weave a
rich structural tapestry and are indicated in example 3.13.
Example 3.13 Beginning repetition, sentence structure, and tricolon in chorus five of “The
Toyko Blues”
Finally, making this chorus the most rhetorically rich in the entire solo, Silver adds yet
two more rhetorical devices, question and answer (“Q & A”) and call and response (“C & R”),
both from the dialogue category. Question and answer occurs in bars 65 to 68 and again in 73 to
76, where Silver divides each four-measure phrase into two-measure phrase members. Both first
phrase members rise in pitch at the end, while the second phrase members fall, mimicing the
vocal inflections of the voice. Berliner calls this “balanced call and response with altered
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response” and indicates that improvisers use it when they “create rhythmically balanced imitative
phrases whose respective endings rise or fall in relation to one another, as if asking, then
answering, a question.”88 Rhetorically, the figure is referred to as either hypophora or
anthypophora.89
The other dialogue device, call and response, is the musical raison d’être for this chorus
and the next. Although the leadership of call and response can be fluid, in most instances in
African American music one voice takes the lead, as is mainly the case here. In the first 12
measures of each chorus the drummer provides commentary in the space between Silver’s two-
measure note groupings. Occasionally the call and response overlap, as is also common in Black
music genres. In the four bars at the end of each chorus, though, Silver firmly reasserts his
leadership and the drums return to a more accompanimental role. Example 3.14 once again
shows the first 12 measures of chorus five, this time with the question and answer and call and
response figures indicated.
Example 3.14 Question and answer and call and response in “The Tokyo Blues”
88 Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation, 571, 194. Referencing two of the interviews he
conducted for this book, Berliner also writes “For Lonnie Hillyer, as for Max Roach, improvising ‘is really like a guy having a conversation with himself.’ Hillyer sometimes thinks of himself as ‘making statements and answering them’ when he performs” (192).
89 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical terms, 87.
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Example 3.14 (cont.)
The power of the call and response and the rich combination of rhetorical figures at the
beginning of chorus five mark this section as the denouement of Silver’s solo.90 Of the seven
different figures identified in the last three examples in chorus five, there are four different
categories of devices represented: repetition; balance, symmetry, order and contrast; signifying
and indirection; and dialogue. The number and rich interrelationships between the different
types of figures account for the power of this chorus. As discussed in the beginning of this solo,
rhetorical anlaysis is uniquely positioned to highlight the individual strategies an improviser uses
and show how they interact to create a powerful message where the whole is greater than the
sum of the parts.
This portion of the solo is also a good place to reinforce the point made in earlier chapters
that jazz improvisation is part of the larger world of African American dialogic communication.
This connection can be seen by examining a portion of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream
Speech.” (See appendix C for the full speech.) The climax of King’s speech has a number of
similarities to chorus five of Silver’s “The Toyko Blues” solo. Both use parallel phrases and
beginning repetition interwoven with call and response. In addition, both King and Silver use
90 Additionally, the golden mean of the solo falls in the fifth bar of this chorus. This well-documented
phenomenon of balance and symmetry in nature is also commonly found in works of art, for example near the emotional high point of musical works. The math of the golden mean is as follows. Where a line is divided into two segments, a and b, and the dividing point is the golden mean, the following equalities hold true: a ÷ (a + b) = b ÷ a ≈ 61.8%. In a musical piece, the golden mean, then, occurs approximately 61.8% of the way through the work.
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simple pitch patterns and tonal semantics to fashion their calls. Example 3.15 shows how King
builds to a pinnacle at the phrase “from every mountainside,” with the audience responses
indicated in parentheses.
Example 3.15 Various types of repetition, signifying, tonal semantics, and call and response
leading to the pitch climax of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”
Prior to this passage, King names other places around the country where freedom will
ring, and here is “bringing it home,” back to the south, where the suffering of African Americans
began. This signfying is amplified by his references to Stone and Lookout Mountains, where
important civil war battles were fought. The audience answers all of King’s “calls” with effusive
responses. In this “freedom ring” passage King works toward the pitch climax of the speech.
Beginning even earlier than what is shown in example 3.15, time and again his pitch climbs up to
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F. When he finally arrives at the high point, he moves back and forth between this note and Ab a
minor third higher. This is known as a pendular third, a common African American musical
technique that is often found in a call and response format.91 At the same time, video of the
speech shows that King has raised his right hand in the air as if giving the benediction at the end
of a church service.92 The crowd response to all of this is so great that King has to pause and
circle back after saying “Let freedom ring and when this happens…” because of the continuous
applause. Once again reasserting his leadership of the message, he rephrases his last idea by
beginning: “And when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring . . .” before continuing on.
Paralleling Horace Silver with a well-crafted message and a musical delivery, King draws the
crowd into a dialogue to create nommo and illustrate Floyd’s Call-Response principle: “the
master trope, the musical trope of tropes, [implying] within it the presence of Signifyin(g) figures
(calls) and Signfiyin(g) revisions (responses, in various guises).”93
Jim Hall’s Guitar Solo on “Hide and Seek,” August 10, 2000
Recorded nearly 40 years after Horace Silver’s hard bop composition “The Tokyo
Blues,” Jim Hall’s “Hide and Seek” is an original, quasi-latin, straight-eighth composition. The
melody section incorporates sophisticated post-tonal harmonies, while the solo section has strong
modal underpinnings provided by the bassist, Scott Colley. In his solo, Hall is then free to play
within the implied ionian mode, shift to parallel modes, and even superimpose new harmonic
91 See Wilson, “Black Music as an Art Form,” 13; Floyd, “Ring Shout!” Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and
Black Music Inquiry,” 276-77. 92 “Martin Luther King - I Have a Dream Speech - August 28, 1963,” YouTube video, 17:28, from the original
television broadcast on August 28, 1963, posted by “SullenToys.com,” January 15, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs.
93 Floyd, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States, 95.
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structures on top of the mode. Despite the stylistic differences in these songs, a rhetorical
analysis reveals remarkable structural similarities in Hall’s and Silver’s improvisations.
Just as Horace Silver does, Hall begins his solo with one of the most prominent motives in the
solo and develops it. Used throughout the solo, motive a is subject to various rhetorical devices,
key changes, and modal shifts. The motive is shown in example 3.16.
Example 3.16 Motive a in measure one in”Hide and Seek”
Another important idea, motive b, is also used throughout the solo and undergoes even
more development. This second motive is more commonly found as b’, with an additional note
added at its beginning. Example 3.17 presents both versions, with the motive b’ pitch set also
indicated, since Hall works with the set in his development of the motive later in the solo.94
Example 3.17 Motive b in measure seven and motive b’ in measures 20 to 22 in “Hide and
Seek”
94 Pitch sets are often used to reveal musical structures that do not rely on tonal relationships. The 027 pitch
set is determined as follows. In ascending order, the notes D, E, and A can be ordered in three ways (the other two being E, A, D and A, D, and E). A pitch set is identified by the order which most compresses the interval between the first and last notes. Two of the potential orders produce the same interval; in this case, the correct order of the set is one that has the smallest sum of the ascending intervals measured in half steps from the first one in the list. In other words, D to E is two half steps and D to A is seven half steps. This order produces a sum of nine. A quick check of the other two possible orders will confirm that the D, E and A order results in the smallest sum and 027 is the correct label for this set.
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The first phrase of the solo contains both motives a and b, where Hall employs some of
the same rhetorical strategies used by Silver in “The Tokyo Blues.” As shown in example 3.18,
he uses transposed repetition to present motive a and organizes the phrase with a tricolon and
2:2:4 measure sentence structure. Motive b ends the passage.
Example 3.18 Motives a and b in the first phrase of “Hide and Seek”
In the first 12 measures of chorus five in Silver’s “The Tokyo Blues” solo (see example
3.13), the same tricolon and sentence structure is found, creating a very similar motivic structure,
with two differences. First, Silver’s tricolon grouping is extended over 12 measures so it does
not line up directly with the eight measure sentence structure as Hall’s phrase does. Second, the
types of repetition used are different – Silver uses beginning repetition, whereas Hall uses
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transposed repetition. By breaking the music down into rhetorical devices, both the similarities
and differences in the motivic treatment become apparent and can be easily conveyed.
The next phrase of Hall’s “Hide and Seek” solo has three new rhetorical devices not
previously discussed. One of these is beginning and ending repetition (“BER”). Known as
symploche or complexio to rhetoricians, it is found in poetic text, the works of Shakespeare, and
in spoken word. Both Renaissance and Baroque rhetoricians have commented on the inherent
musical quality of this type of repetition.95 Interestingly, this is the only solo in this study where
it is found. Most likely this is because the device takes a great deal of forethought to employ,
especially when the harmonies are different in the repeated passages. With the modal backdrop
of “Hide and Seek,” however, the harmonic obstacles are avoided. The beginning repeat uses
motive a, found between the pick-ups to measures one and eight; the ending repetition uses
motive b, occurring between bars seven and fifteen. A comparison between example 3.19 and
the previous example, 3.18, shows this.
Example 3.19 Motives a and b “bookend” the second phrase of “Hide and Seek,” mirroring their
use in the previous phrase.
95 See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 225-228; Kaiser,
Shakespeare’s Wordcraft, 128-32.
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Example 3.19 (cont.)
The beginning repeat between these phrases also contains another new rhetorical device,
correction. With this figure, a passage has a similar note pattern to a previous passage, but one
or more notes are altered to indicate a change of harmony and/or affect. It has two rhetorical
sources, each with a slightly different meaning. Transposition, also known as antistoecon, is the
substitution of one sound or letter within a word for another.96 An example is the varied
pronunciation of words such as “potato” and “tomato” (i.e. po-ta-to and po-tah-to) in George and
Ira Gershwin’s “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” As a musical term, transposition is simply a
change of key, but the rhetorical meaning of substituting one thing for another informs what Hall
does to motive a in bar eight, where he substitutes an F# for the original F. This “transposition”
does not create a true key movement to G major since the bass keeps the C tonal center. Instead,
the “sound”of C changes due to the modal shift from C ionian to C lydian.
The other rhetorical source for correction is correctio, which is to correct, or set right, a
word or phrase used earlier.97 In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Adam, the servant of Orlando,
uses correction as he trys to warn Orlando of the treachery of Orlando’s brother. Adam struggles
to find the correct way to refer to the brother:
Your brother – no, no brother – yet the son –
Yet not the son, I will not call him son –
96 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 16. 97 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 42. For a musical application of correctio to the music of J.S. Bach,
see Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D),” 120.
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Of him I was about to call father, (II.iii.20-23)98
In the same way, Hall’s shift to C lydian can be seen as a correction of the original C ionian
motive, or perhaps a rethinking of its possiblities for expression. Adam’s struggle also seems to
be paralleled in the second phrase of Hall’s solo because after establishing the F# in measures 8
to 11, Hall appears to call second-guess himself and express doubt about this change. Dubitatio,
as it is known rhetorically, is when one feigns doubt or confusion, either in how begin a thought
or how to choose between two thoughts.99 It seems that Hall is trying to decide between two
modes here. In bars 11-14 he debates back and forth between F and F#, and further calls the
mode into question by chromatically introducing Ab and Eb pitches. Adding to the effect of
uncertainty is the start-and-stop quality of the rhythms that Hall chooses in measures 11 to 14.100
They come as a direct contrast to the smooth, assured rhythms of motive a found in the first
phrase of the solo. Example 3.20 shows measures 8 to 15 again, this time with the correction
and doubt devices highlighted.
Example 3.20 Correction and doubt in “Hide and Seek”
98 William Shakespeare, As You Like It, in William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, ed. Stanley Wells, Gary
Taylor, John Jowett, and William Montgomery (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 713. 99 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 242-43. 100 Both Bartel and Beghin mention ambiguous harmonic progressions (including key uncertainty) and
rhythms as two principal ways that doubt can be expressed musically, citing a number of common practice musical examples. See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 242-45; Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D),” 109-120; Beghin, “Delivery, Delivery, Delivery! Crowning the Rhetorical Process of Haydn’s Keyboard Sonatas” in Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric, ed. Tom Beghin and Sander M. Goldberg (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007), 147-50.
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Example 3.20 (cont.)
The claim made here is that Hall gives the appearance of being unsure as to what to play,
not that he is actually in doubt. As Tom Beghin points out, “if the doubt is genuine, dubitatio
ceases to be a figure altogether. As the orator pretends to be in doubt, the listeners are puzzled,
but the more impressed afterwards, when the orator, in ‘regained’ confidence, brushes aside the
previous doubt.”101 In the same way, the puzzlement Hall induces in this passage is resolved by
a number of definitive statements of motive b and its b’ variation in the next passage. In fact, the
b material is stated so strongly in measures 15 to 22 that it eclipses the fact that Hall never
actually resolves the modal controversy, completely avoiding the fourth degree of the mode (F
vs. F#) in the entire passage. He does, however, move away from the chromaticism of the
previous phrase by reaffirming the major quality of the mode. Example 3.21 shows motive b in
measure 15 and the rephrased and transposed statements of both b and b’ in the subsequent
cadential extension to give this passage finality, along with punctuation from the drums in
“agreement” with Hall’s assertions of the b material.
101 Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D),” 112-13.
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Example 3.21 Motive b and a cadential extension used to resolve the uncertainty of the previous
idea in “Hide and Seek”
Stepping back from the granular details of rhetorical analysis for a moment, it is worth
exploring how the rhetorical devices highlight Jim Hall’s storytelling abilities. Whether in
written or spoken language, music, or any other art, a successful communicator balances the
proportion of the expected and unexpected. If there are no surprises, the listener loses interest; if
there is too much new material, the listener cannot process and remember the message. By
looking at figures of repetition, along with figures of balance, symmetry, order and contrast, the
rhetorical analyst can address the artist’s success in getting his or her message across to the
listener.
In this regard, Hall proves himself to be a first-rate storyteller already in the opening
phrases of “Hide and Seek.” As shown earlier in example 3.18, the first phrase is very
memorable and easily understood, with a slight harmonic flirtation with Db major at the end that
keeps the listener engaged. Example 3.19 shows the next phrase immediately returning to the
opening idea, but the direction of the story is soon thrown into question. The listener is
presented with a good amount of new material in measures 11-14 that creates tension, since the
musical point is ambiguous. These measures are not as memorable, although they are not weak
rhetorically. The key is what Hall does next. If he had continued on with another ambiguous
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phrase he would have lost the listener. Instead, he does what Beghin indicates should happen to
doubt: he brushes it aside, with an unmistakable and even more satisfying return to a familiar
theme in the story. At this point, with both main motives of the solo firmly established in the
ear, the audience is ready to see where else Hall’s tale will transport them. Again, rhetorical
analysis provides a clear lense with which to view artistic intent and communication of the
message.
Throughout his “Hide and Seek” solo Hall demonstrates his mastery of balancing new
and old material in an aesthetically pleasing way. Often, the new material is simply old material
used in a new way. The next passage is a good example of this. Sonically Hall opens up the
solo, with three short, ascending bursts of perfect fourth and major second intervals. This seems
to be new material, but close examination reveals that he simply retrogrades and expands the b’
idea as he builds to a climax in measure 28. This increase in the intensity of his delivery draws
responses from both the bass and drums. This response takes the form of what Geneva
Smitherman refers to as co-signing, or “affirming, agreeing with the speaker.”102 All of this is
reflected in the rich combination of rhetorical devices used by Hall and indicated in Example
3.22.
102 Smitherman, Talkin and Testifyin, 107.
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Example 3.22 Rephrased motive b’ retrogrades with call and response in measures 23 to 28 of
“Hide and Seek”
A tricolon grouping of rhetorical questions in measures 23, 25 and 27, each more
insistent than the last, builds to a climax in measure 28 and is then answered by the anticlimax
in measures 29 to 32.103 These last four bars are very similar in construction and function to
measures 15 to 22 in example 3.21. Both use motive b’ a number of times in a generally
descending line. The occurrence here is even more definitive than the earlier one, though, with
four iterations of the same basic rhythm. This rhythm focuses squarely on the first beat of each
measure by outlining a CMA7 chord on the downbeats from bars 29 to 32. This gently unwinds
the accumulated tension and gives a strong sense of completion to the first 32 measures of the
solo. Example 3.23 shows the three rhetorical questions building to a climax in measure 28 and
then answered by the anticlimax from bars 29-32.
103 Rhetorically, anticlimax is the opposite of climax, discussed earlier, and is typically the use of parallel ideas
in order of decreasing power. It is sometimes called catacosmesis. See Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 31.
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Example 3.23 Anticlimax in “Hide and Seek”
After these 32 bars, Hall proceeds with the most harmonically interesting phrase in the
solo. As if balancing the short, ascending retrogrades of motive b’ found in tricolon in example
3.22, he plays short, descending D and C triad pairs, and later Bb, Ab and G triad groupings,
again found in tricolon. The bass is still playing the underlying C tonality, but Hall’s triads
signify on the bass line by suggesting a richer tonal pallette. This harmonic substitution is a
figure of signifying and indirection, similar to Horace Silver’s use of harmonic generalization in
“The Tokyo Blues” (see example 3.8), but with one important difference. Whereas Silver uses a
simple and limited pitch set to substitute for a more complex chord progression and say “things
may not be as complicated as they appear,” Hall does the opposite, saying “things may actually
be more complicated than you think.” Either way, the use of indirection indicates that things
may not be entirely what they seem. Hall’s harmonic indirection is shown in example 3.24,
along with his use of time indirection.
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Example 3.24 Motive c triad pairs and harmonic and time indirection in “Hide and Seek”
Nor is the meter entirely what it seems in the phrase because Hall also signifies on this.
Time indirection was discussed earlier in Horace Silver’s solo, where he used an implied
accelerando to challenge the idea of a steady 4/4 beat. Here, Hall is playing in time but
suggesting other meters. Twice he suggests a 3/8 meter in measures 33-34 and 35; then he uses
contraction to condense two 3/8 statements into a 5/8 idea in measure 36; and finally he ends
with a clear 3/8 statement in measures 37 and 38.
The contraction that occurs in bar 36 is particularly interesting for its use of signfiying.
Rhetorically, contraction is related to ellipsis, where a word or words are missing, but the entire
message is understood.104 There are numerous examples of this in Shakespeare, such as
Stepano’s exclamation to Trinculo in The Tempest “If you prove a mutineer – the next tree!”
(3.2.35-36).105 The missing “you will hang from” is well understood; further, by leaving it out,
Shakespeare creates more impact with a stark image that is surely placed in Trinculo’s mind.
Musically, Paul Berliner calls this type of mid-phrase omission “phrase contraction.”106 In the
104 Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 433-34. For both the rhetorical and musical rhetorical
background of this figure, see Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 245-51.
105 William Shakespeare, The Tempest, in William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, ed. Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, John Jowett, and William Montgomery (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 1330.
106 Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation, 186.
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same way that Trinculo’s attention is drawn to the tree, Hall’s contraction draws attention to his
signifying figure in an attention-getting way. Since Hall has previously established the 3/8 ideas
as signifying on the 4/4 meter, what is he is doing here? Is he simply playing pick-ups into beats
two and three in a way that again suggests 4/4? Or, does the 5/8 construction further signify on
the 3/8 gestures to trope his own trope?
The precise answer to these metrical questions, and the resolution of the harmonic
uncertainty of this phrase, is less important than understanding the process involved and what it
means in terms of the crafting of the musical message. Indirection and signfiying are integral to
modes of African American communciation. As Ernest Borneman notes:
While the whole European tradition strives for regularity – of pitch, of time, of timbre,
and of vibrato – the African tradition strives precisely for the negation of these elements. In
language, the African tradition aims at circumlocution rather than at exact definition. The
direct statement is considered crude and unimaginative; the veiling of all contents in ever-
changing paraphrases is considered the criterion of intelligence and personality. In music,
the same tendency toward obliquity and ellipsis is noticeable: no note is attacked straight;
the voice or instrument always approaches it from above or below, plays around the implied
pitch without ever remaining on it for any length of time, and departs from it without ever
having committed itself to a single meaning. The timbre is veiled and paraphrased by
constantly changing vibrato, tremelo and overtone effects. The timing and accentuation,
finally, are not stated, but implied or suggested.107
In outlining these important aspects of African American musical communication, two
additional points need to be made. First, while Borneman only notes the use of indirection in
time, timbre and single-line pitch elements, the argument is made here that this also applies to
harmonic elements. The same signifying tropings and multiple meanings apply, as noted above.
Second, when the term “African American communication” is used, it is important to keep in
107 Ernest Borneman, “The Roots of Jazz,” in Jazz: New Perspectives On The History Of Jazz By Twelve Of The
World's Foremost Jazz Critics And Scholars, edited by Nat Hentoff and Albert J. McCarthy (New York: Da Capo Press, 1974).
64
mind that this term is inclusive racially. It does not matter that Jim Hall and the other musicians
he performs with on “Hide and Seek” are not African American. When Floyd discusses the
African cultural memory that pervades all forms of black music, he is careful to point out that “it
is not racially exclusive, for in absorbing the elements, practices, and transformations of a
tradition, one also absorbs its cultural memory.”108
After this section, with its indirection and motive c storyline that has moved away from
the main themes of his solo, Hall returns to his first idea with a derivation of motive a, labeled
here as motive d, and a clearly stated C tonality in measure 39. He sets up this return by ending
the triadic passage in the previous bar on a G major chord, the V of C major. Also, the step-
wise descent of the bottom notes of his triads in measures 36 to 38 (A, G, F, Eb, D) eventually
lands on a C on beat two of measure 39. This sly transition to a derivation of motive a suggests
that the storylines of motives c and a are not completely unrelated. Example 3.25 shows the
transition from motive c to motive d with the connection to the opening of the solo indicated by
the beginning repetition in bar 39.
Example 3.25 The transition from motive c to motive d in “Hide and Seek”
Recalling the idea the way he outlined a CMA7 chord using motive b’ in his anticlimactic
phrase in measures 29 to 32 (see example 3.23), Hall uses each tone of a C9 chord as a
108 Floyd, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States, 140.
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temporary rest point in a climactic phrase that builds up to a D in measure 43. Each of the five
measure-long gestures ends on a chord tone, but unlike the earlier example, the chord tones are
not arranged in a directional sequence here. The order is more random: G, C, Bb, E, then finally
up to D. Rather than a list of items “read” in a logical order, this seems more like Hall is
constructing the list as things occur to him. These five back-to-back versions of motive d are an
example of enumeration, a figure of amplification. According to Lanham, enumeratio (or
dinumeratio) is “amplifying a general fact or idea by giving all its details.”109 Musically, what
we see is Hall permutating motive d to explore or list its different qualities in the C
mixolydian/C9 context. Some rhetorical sources also link enumeration to distributio, which is
dividing an argument into its constituent parts to make it more forcefully. Bartel, for example,
concentrates on the thematic elements, indicating that distributio “is a musical-rhetorical process
in which individual motifs or phrases of a theme or section of a composition are developed
before proceeding to the following material.”110 Beghin takes a slightly different view: “The
purpose of a piece of music can be: (sic) to paint an individual or general emotion. In both cases,
there are so many relationships and connections that the emotions cannot be made clear enough
without dissolving it into component parts.”111 Elaborating on this in language terms, he says
“distributio is [an enumeration] of phrases or sentences. These sentences have to be similarly
constructed (as such distributio is related to isocolon...) or at least, there has to be some element
– a certain word e.g. – that links all the members of the distributio together.”112 Example 3.26
shows enumeration and isocolon in the five members of the distributio in measures 39 to 43,
building to a climax at the end of the passage.
109 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 55. 110 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 239. 111 Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D),” 138. 112 Beghin, “Forkel and Haydn: A Rhetorical Framework for the Analysis of Sonata Hob.XVI:42(D),” 140.
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Example 3.26 Enumeration, isocolon, and climax “confirm” motive d in “Hide and Seek”
One last element of distributio sheds light on this phrase. Bartel says that distributio is
fundamental to the rhetorical process, both in language and in music, in the role it plays in the
confutatio and confirmatio portions of the dispositio, or arrangment of arguments, which was
discussed in chapter two as one of the five canons of rhetoric.113 The confutatio is the refutation
of potential arguments against one’s thesis, while the confirmatio is a confirmation of one’s
original thesis.114 After exploring the argument against motive a in the passage with the
contrasting motive c triadic idea, Hall’s five motive d gestures are used to confirm the strength of
his original, and related, motive a thesis.
A similar confirmation of his other main idea, motive b, happens in the last six measures
before a key change to E major. In a microcosm of measures 23 to 32 (see examples 3.22 and
3.23), Hall hints at the b’ retrograde idea in measures 45 and 46, but then moves quickly to refute
it and confirm that it is really the b motive that is important by playing its defining downbeat and
up-beat of two “Charleston” rhythm in measures 47 and 49. This is shown in example 3.27.
113 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 239. 114 Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, 153.
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Example 3.27 Confirmation of motive b and tonal resolution using delayed repetition in “Hide
and Seek”
This confirmation is made stronger by a cadential extension that uses delayed repetition
(“DR”), similar to what Berliner calls “repeating an idea through an introductory figure.115 Even
more broadly, delayed repetition draws on the rhetorical figure of diacope, which is the
repetition of a word or phrase with one or a few words in between. This figure often denotes a
strong emotion. A good example of this occurs in the final phrase of Martin Luther King’s “I
Have a Dream” speech where he exclaims “Free at last, free at last, great God Almighty, we are
free at last!” In Hall’s phrase, the delayed repetition also marks an important ending – of the C
tonal center. And although not the same kind of emotional high point as the phrase from King’s
speech, the delayed repetition signifies an element of resolve and finality to the tonal resolution.
Roughly two-thirds of the way through his solo, Hall modulates up to E major, a bright
chromatic mediant modulation. Between measures 54 and 64, his treatment of the a and b
motives in this new key are remarkably similar to what he did in measures one to seven in C
major (see example 3.18). Beginning with the pick-ups to measure 54, Hall rephrases motive a
in a tricolon structure with transposed repetition. And just as Hall did in C major, he
incorporates defining pitches from a major key a half-step higher in bars 59 and 60. Here,
however, the bass does not shift up the half-step as it did in measures five and six, so the passage
115 Berliner, Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation, 194, 571.
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most closely resembles E phrygian, rather than F major. Once again, this stresses the dialogic
nature of jazz and the concept of nommo: the truth is not dispensed by one person, it is
constructed by the community. Example 3.28 shows the return of motive a material in the new
key.
Example 3.28 Motive a used in a new key, recalling its use at the beginning of “Hide and Seek”
The concept of dialogue is multi-faceted, as we shall see throughout the various solos in
this study. The musical-rhetorical figure of dialogue brings another point-of-view into the
communication. Dialogismus is the rhetorical counterpart to this and is described by Lanham as
“speaking in another’s character.”116 It can also be used to create a “pseudo-dialog through
taking up an opposing position with one’s self.”117 Dialogismus is used as part of the confutatio
in King’s “I Have a Dream” speech when he says, “There are those who are asking the devotees
of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisifed?’”118 Treating this question as a representation of a
point-of-view and an argument to be refuted, he goes on to enumerate all the elements of racial
discrimination preventing the African American from being satisfied. In Hall’s solo, another
116 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 52. 117 Gideon Burton, “Dialogismus,” Silva Rhetoricae,” Brigham Young University, last modified February 26,
2007. http://rhetoric.byu.edu. 118 See the transcription of the speech in appendix A.
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point-of-view can be found in the second voice he adds to motive a in measures 55 to 60. Rather
than an argument to be refuted, though, the consonant sixth sonorities this new line creates with
the original melody are harmonious. This additional point-of-view strengthens Hall’s original
assertion: it provides additional “color” on the main argument by signifying that motive a is not
just a melody, but has a harmonic aspect, too.
Immediately following this phrase with motive a material, Hall again parallels the
beginning of the solo by playing the b’ motive as an answer or completion of the a motive.
There is even a moment of E lydian to balance the C lydian from the solo’s second phrase in
measure eight. This is shown in example 3.29.
Example 3.29 Motive b material used again to answer motive a in “Hide and Seek”
In the next and final section of the solo, Hall continues to parallel what he did earlier in
the previous key. Again using the 027 pitch set in the b’ retrograde idea (see example 3.21), he
enumerates its various possiblities, recalling what he did earlier with motive a (see example
3.25). In the key of E major, the 027 set is comprised of the E, F#, and B pitches and is found
beginning in measure 64 and extending to the downbeat of measure 73. Hall also interpolates
the C#, A, A# and D pitches into his ascending statements of motive b’ in a series of parallel
ideas. This passage is shown in example 3.30.
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Example 3.30 Enumeration of the b’ retrograde in the last section of “Hide and Seek”
After exploring these alternate b ideas, Hall yet again confirms the original b motive in a
strongly cadential descending scale to end the solo in measures 75 to 78. In doing this, he leaves
no question that this idea is the final answer to all of the questions raised during the solo, or
perhaps the unifying theme and the ultimate moral of the story. This can be seen by comparing
the ending repetition (“ER”) that links this last phrase to the five earlier uses of the b/b’ motive
that occur at the end of nearly every important phrase ending in this solo. Rhetorically this
device is known as epistrophe.119 The ending repetition device used between these six phrases
beautifully reveals the tight thematic organization of Hall’s solo and how he indelibly imprints
his message in the mind of the listener. Adding to the finality of this phrase is the use of
anticlimax, with Hall’s transposed repetitions of motive b walking down a whole octave of the E
119 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 260-63. Lanham identifies
and discusses antistrophe as a synonym for epistrophe: “Repetition of a closing word or words at the end of several (usually successive) clauses, sentences, or verses.” This recognizes the potential for this device to create structural unity in the communication, as Hall does in this solo. See Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 16.
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major scale to gently release musical tension. This final phrase of the solo is shown in example
3.31.
Example 3.31 Ending and transposed repetition with anticlimax in the last phrase of “Hide and
Seek”
The first two artists covered in this study, Horace Silver and Jim Hall, are each respected
as composers as well as improvisors. It is not surprising then that each musician’s solo contains
clear ideas that are developed with a high degree of musical logic. In addition, Hall
demonstrates his ability to take a limited amount of material and construct a solo that is
thematically consistent and well-balanced. The next artist, Lester Young, also uses motivic
development in his solo, but with an analogic approach that draws more from his personal
vocabulary. The rhetorical analysis provided gives unique insight into how integrated this
vocabulary is into his solos, his use of indirection, and his role in paving the way for bebop.
Lester Young’s Tenor Saxophone Solo on “Lady Be Good,” November 9, 1936
Although frequently recognized as an excellent improvisational “storyteller,” Lester
Young’s ability to manipulate and develop the ideas in his solos has sometimes been overlooked.
This is particularly the case with ideas that are part of his personal vocabulary, sometimes
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referred to as “formulas.” In 1959, the musicologist Louis Gottlieb wrote an article on Young’s
style in his early days with Count Basie, saying, “although evidence of motivic construction
could be shown in Lester Young’s work, it was not really an important feature of his musical
thought. In this sense, Pres was a folk artist and used his best licks wherever they did the most
good depending upon the tempo and key.”120 In his introduction to Gottlieb’s reprinted article,
Lewis Porter correctly notes that “[Gottlieb] grossly underestimates how motivic Young’s
playing could be.”121 Ironically, though, in his own analysis of Young’s 1936 “Lady Be Good”
solo, an early masterpiece, Porter fails to fully recognize the important place that one of Young’s
common formulas plays in this solo.122
Porter makes a clear distinction between motives and formulas: “Motives are introduced,
repeated, varied, and developed. A motive is a short idea that is developed by repetition,
variation, and other means, as opposed to a formula that appears when needed, then disappears.
An idea may be a formula or a motive, depending on how it is employed.”123 Later, in his
analysis of the “Lady, Be Good” solo, Porter describes this particular formula: “This phrase, an
ascent to the high A and descent by dominant seventh arpeggio built on A, is a formula, 7, that
Young uses over the tonic chords throughout the piece. It is a formula and not a motive because
120 Louis Gottlieb, “Why So Sad, Pres?,” in A Lester Young Reader, ed. Louis Porter (Washington: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1991), 218. 121 Lewis Porter, Porter, introduction to “Why so Sad, Pres?,” by Louis Gottlieb, in A Lester Young Reader, ed.
Louis Porter (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 211. 122 In Porter’s book on Lester Young he identifies a handful of Young formulas, two of which occur in this solo.
The first is found in measures two and three, and the second formula is found in measures four to seven. In looking at a number of Lester Young solo transcriptions, including the dozens of complete solos in Frank Büchmann-Møller’s Young solography I independently confirmed that the two formulas Porter identifies in his book are found in a number of other solos. The clearest examples of the first formula are in the same key as this solo, A major, but he also plays it in the keys of C, Eb, F, and G, some of which are 12-bar blues. In addition, there is at least one more formula in “Lady Be Good” that Porter does not identify, found in measures 41-43. See Lewis Porter, Lester Young, Rev. ed. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005), 64; 90-93; Frank Büchmann-Møller, You Got to Be Original, Man! The Music of Lester Young, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990).
123 Porter, Lester Young, 58.
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it is never followed by development of the whole phrase and because Young plays it wherever it
conveniently fits and maintains the melodic flow.”124 Interestingly, Porter also acknowledges
that “Young’s sense of structure was so well developed that he often tried to integrate his
formulas with the rest of the solo, especially in the early years.”125 But his analysis of “Lady, Be
Good” mentions little of this, and he mainly points out where the formula is used. A rhetorical
analysis of this improvisation places this idea front and center and recognizes both its structural
importance and the creative ways that Young incorporates it into the rest of the solo. This
analysis also includes the signifying and indirection paradigm of African American
communication that has been laid forth in this study to add yet another layer of meaning to the
solo.
Labeled here as motive a, this formula occurs six times – once in each A section of the
two-chorus 32-bar AABA improvisation. Example 3.32 shows a pitch reduction of motive a to
its basic shape, with notes in parentheses indicating pitches that are used significantly in at least
two, but not all, versions of the idea.
Example 3.32 Basic pitch outline of motive a in “Lady Be Good”
Motive a is rephrased each time it is used and is often preceded by pick-up notes or
followed by a cadential extension. Examples 3.33 and 3.34 present the occurrences of motive a
in the order in which they are found in the solo. The first example shows the motive being used
124 Lewis Porter, Lester Young, Rev. ed. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005), 90-91. 125 Lewis Porter, Lester Young, 61.
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at or near the beginning the first two eight-bar A sections of the solo, while the second example
shows the idea being used to conclude the last four A sections.
Example 3.33 Motive a used near the beginning of each of the first two A sections in “Lady Be
Good”
Example 3.34 Motive a used to end each of the last four A sections in “Lady Be Good”
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Example 3.34 (cont.)
A close rhetorical look at where and how the six versions of this idea are used leads to a
number of conclusions about it that differ from Porter’s. First, examples 3.33 and 3.34 clearly
show the idea being used in different parts of the harmonic progression, at odds with Porter’s
claim that the idea is just used over tonic chords. Parts of it are used over tonic chords,
particularly where the line resolves, but it is stretched from two bars to as much as four bars over
a number of different harmonic areas. It is more accurate to say that this is a tonic idea, or more
precisely a I(b7) idea, harmonically generalized over a number of different harmonic fields. This
type of indirection is a favorite rhetorical device of Young’s and indicated above in the first two
instances of the idea in example 3.33.
Second, when Porter refers to the formula being used where it “conveniently fits,” he
misses the structural importance of the idea. The first two times Young plays it are in the first
half of the opening two A sections, linking them together with a rephrased beginning repetition.
Occurring so close together, a repetition of this type would normally be quite obvious to the
listener. But these phrases are different enough that the casual listener might not notice the
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common underlying structure. The second phrase is longer, starts one bar later in its respective
A section, uses different rhythms, and has different resolution pitches that occur in different
places metrically. Young, the master storyteller, uses indirection to just leave clues about the
story’s theme and direction. By avoiding the obvious he allows tension to build slowly and
carefully.
The next four times Young plays the idea it occurs in the second half of each A section,
creating rephrased end repetitions that link these four sections, despite each version being
distinctly different. It is only by the second chorus that the listener really starts to track this idea
aurally. Part of this is due to repetition, despite the extraordinary rephrasing. But it is also
because the end repetitions are more obvious, occurring in or near each A section’s strongest
tonic resolution in the seventh bar. The motive then becomes – like Jim Hall’s b motive in “Hide
and Seek” – the consistent answer to all of the questions and challenges posed. Like Hall,
Young is a master architect of form, but Young’s use of rephrasing shows how he makes his
point in a more indirect way than either Hall or Horace Silver.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, this formula is interwoven into the very fabric of a
number of other ideas in the solo. To Porter, it is a formula and not a motive because it is not
developed in its entirety, and his position on this is understandable, to a degree. While the basic
pitch reduction of the idea is only seven notes, the versions in the solo are anywhere from 10 to
21 notes long and between two to four measures in duration. This long and multi-faceted idea
would be cumbersome to develop in its entirety using many means of motivic development, for
example, transposition, inversion, or retrograde. But by Porter’s own definition of motivic
development (“repetition, variation, and other means”) this idea qualifies. Young subjects it to
various types of repetition, expands and contracts the idea, borrows from its rhythm, and merges
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it with other motives. This is an idea that Young molds into a number of different shapes, and
this reworking justifies labeling it a motive. Example 3.35 shows Young manipulating motive a
and weaving it into the surrounding material in the first two A sections of the solo.
Example 3.35 Motive a connected to other material through rhetorical devices at the beginning
of “Lady Be Good”
The opening three notes of the solo are a typical Young attention-getter, hailing the
listener as he begins his message. He then immediately repeats the notes, contracting the
rhythm, to propel him through his first statement of motive a. The listener has been cued to pay
attention to something important. Martin Luther King does this same thing in his “I Have a
Dream” speech. King needs to change directions slightly and prepare the listener for his
reinterpretation of the words of the song “America.” So after enumerating what the people’s
faith in their dream of freedom will bring, he begins, “And this will be the day, this will be the
day when all of God’s children (pause) will be able to sing with new meaning: “My country ‘tis
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of thee sweet land of liberty ….’” Along with the other spoken language examples used in this
study, this portion of the King speech shows how rhetorical analysis, through the vehicle of
analogy, can provide a unique and insightful way to understand the artistic intent and crafting of
the musical message in a concrete way.
Another repetition, beginning repetition, occurs in measure eight in the pick-ups to the
second use of motive a. These pick-ups borrow the rhythm and some of the pitch content from
bar four as Young neatly slides back into motive a. He also uses connective repetition between
measures seven and eight. Both of these connections to the previous passage obscure the
repetition of motive a, but they give Young’s ideas an organic, conversational flow.
At the end of this second statement of motive a, Young again blurs the distinction
between phrases with an interesting phrase elision. His rephrased repetition of the cadential
extension in measure 11 is the jumping off point to the next idea beginning in bar 12, where this
tonic triad repetition overshadows the momentary clash with the underlying passing Co7 chord.
Adding another layer of meaning and structure to this repetition is a rhetorical device of contrast,
reverse order. The rhetorical equivalent of reverse order is chiasmus, where a repetition of two
words or phrases are reordered from ab to ba.126 By breaking the tonic triad into its two
component parts the underlying reversal in order can be seen. The first component is the single
pitch A, and the second component is the two-note C#-E combination. The first component is
repeated in measure 11 (1, 1, 2), while the second component is repeated in the following bar (1,
126 Lanham mentions that chiasmus is frequently used in punning and oxymoron, and gives an example
attributed to the 18th century English author Samuel Johnson. Johnson is purported to have said to an aspiring writer, “’Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.’” See Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 33. This example also demonstrates Gates’ claim that chiasmus is a trope that uses repetition along with a reversal, a necessary ingredient for signifying to take place. Gates also extends this from wordplay to music: “Improvisation, of course, so fundamental to the very idea of jazz, is ‘nothing more’ than repetition and revision” (63-64). See Gates, The Signifying Monkey, 153, 172, 63-64.
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2, 2). The underlying ab/ba structure is revealed when looking at it this way: the first bar is
structured as repeated idea/idea played once, while the second bar is idea played once/repeated
idea. Also noteworthy is the use of signifying in this passage: Gates “repetition and reversal”
requirement for signifying to occur is met by the tonic triad being repeated in measure 12 not as
ending idea, but as the beginning of a new phrase which continues on in measure 13. This
signifying revision of the motive a cadential extension is shown in example 3.36.
Example 3.36 Reverse order and signifying on a motive a cadential extension used to bridge two
phrases in “Lady Be Good”
The most intriguing blending of ideas occurs in the third use of motive a in the final A
section of chorus one. Young begins by juxtaposing two motives, c and d, and then merges them
into motive a. This results in the richest use of rhetoric in the entire solo. Example 3.37 shows
motives c and d, subject to rephrasing and reverse order, along with the solo’s third occurrence
of motive a.
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Example 3.37 Motives c and d and their absorption into motive a in “Lady Be Good”
This passage begins with motive c, a 3/8 cross rhythm that occurs in measures 24-25, 26,
and 29 and begins on the first E in each starting measure. (In bar 29, the second E in the bar
changes the pattern from the earlier measures, but it is simply a pick-up to the D on beat four and
does not change the 3/8 nature of the figure.) In bar 25, Young begins to use motive d, which is
simply the E, F# and A from one of the versions of motive a.
From measures 24 to 27 he alternates between motives c and d in the first phrase
member, rephrasing as he goes, and ends with an upward pitch motion, as if asking the listener
which is the better idea. The second phrase member provides the answer, but it is not what
Young has led the listeners to expect. He continues the motive c and d controversy by beginning
with a reversal, another reverse order where he begins with d first, instead of c. But this all
proves to be a put-on, because he has posed a false dichotomy to the listener. The choice is not
just between motives c and d because they are both absorbed by what becomes the ultimate
answer in the solo: motive a. When Young reverses motives c and d and melds them into motive
a in the context of a question and answer figure, he is using motive a to signify on motives c and
d. This analysis is further supported by the ending repeat figure that is used to connect the two
phrase members: by repeating measure 27 down an octave in measure 31 he reinforces both the
question and answer structure and the signifying repetition and reversal.
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Recalling the points made earlier regarding Porter and Gottlieb’s observations of
Young’s playing, the rhetorical viewpoint provided here gives a fresh perspective on motivic
analysis and a fuller appreciation of Young’s creativity, especially in the context of the African
American communication tradition. Example 3.38 shows measures 24 to 31 once again, this
time with the question and answer, ending repeat, and signifying devices indicated.
Example 3.38 Motive a signifying on motives c and d in a question and answer phrase in “Lady
Be Good”
As indicated earlier in example 3.34, Young goes on to use motive a three more times in
the second chorus of this solo, all of them rephrased ending repetitions that close A sections and
link them to measures 28 to 31. But the importance of motive a has already been established in
the discussion of the first chorus. Keeping in mind Gates definition of signifying as “repetition
with a signal difference,” this motive is a structural device that drives its point home through
indirection and signifying. It signifies on the harmonic progression; signifies on the form; and
signifies on the other ideas of the solo.
There are other motives in “Lady Be Good” that are either formulaic or similar to other
ideas commonly found in his solos. One of these, motive b, shows up multiple times in various
places in the form. Interestingly, it does not occur close to motive a or interact with it at all.
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Young plays it at the end of the second A of the first chorus and then soon after the start of the
bridge in each chorus. This idea is not as structurally important as motive a, but it is used to
mark a return to the tonic harmony, just as motive a often does. Motive b’s identity comes from
the compound melody it uses to converge on the tonic. In each occurrence, the top line descends
in a stepwise fashion from F# down to A, while the bottom line is mainly used to enclose the
tonic by approaches from both above and below. It is another example of dialogue, slightly
different from the earlier example by Jim Hall (see example 3.28) because here the two lines are
implied in a melodic line rather than sounded together. The upward- and downward-pointing
triangles in the musical examples delineate each of the two converging lines. Example 3.39
shows the first two instances of motive b in the first chorus, occurring just before the bridge and
just after it, where the two voices of motive b converse with each other.
Example 3.39 Dialogue and pitch indirection in motive b in the first chorus of “Lady Be Good”
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Motive b also demonstrates Young’s forward-looking voice-leading conception and why
he is often considered to be a transitional figure between the swing and bebop styles. His
influence on bebop musicians is well-documented, and this motive shows him playing two things
that musicians such as Charlie Parker learn from him. First, the step-wise and often
chromatically inflected voice-leading and compound melody are something that Parker and other
bebop musicians adopt as part of their new language. Second, the use of pitch indirection
(“PI”) becomes commonplace in bebop. This type of indirection occurs when a musical gesture
obscures its true intention by placing more emphasis on approach notes than target notes. This is
often accomplished by shifting a strong resolution note to a weak beat, but it can use other
means, like strong off-beat accents, to achieve the same ends. The former situation is found here
in measures 15 and 16. Young use a strong, chromatically inflected enclosure of the tonic to
build tension as the two compound lines begin to converge. The listener’s expectation of a
strong resolution on the downbeat is thwarted when Young delays playing the tonic until beat
two of bar 16.
There are two ways of looking at this indirection. Either Young is drawing attention
away from the tonic resolution by placing a tension note on the downbeat, or he is drawing
attention away from the downbeat by putting the resolution on a normally weaker beat. Either
way the effect is the same: a strong resolution becomes a weak one and the plotline moves
forward. This also makes the delayed repetition of the gesture a few bars later in 19 and 20 more
satisfying; the listener might reasonably expect the weaker resolution again, but instead is
surprised with a stronger one. Once again, we see repetition and revision.
The final use of motive b in this solo is unique because it incorporates a third line above
the other two voices. This line is in the form of a tonic pedal on the A above the staff, and
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Young plays it over the shifting harmonic backdrop in measures 49 and 50 to keep continuity in
the solo’s storyline and possibly suggest the importance of the tonic. But when the lines
converge on A on the downbeat of measure 52, Young barely acknowledges the return of the
tonic harmony, preferring to bring out the D# as he approaches the B7 (V7/V) in the next
measure. Over the next few bars, he clearly establishes D# as something to which he wants the
listener to pay attention, even bounding the notes of measure 53 in a D# octave. Again, he uses
indirection to cause listeners to expect one thing and then gives them something else which is
ultimately more satisfying. Example 3.40 shows this final use of motive b and the succeeding
measures.
Example 3.40 Dialogue and indirection in motive b in the second chorus of “Lady Be Good”
Again, to emphasize that the message is crafted by all the participants in a dialogic form
of communication such as jazz improvisation, what Young does in this section makes complete
sense with what the harmonic accompaniment is providing. Note how the bass moves down
stepwise from measure 50 to the downbeat of measure 53 and then turns around and moves up
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stepwise. The inflection point in this directional change is an intermediate target of the bassist
and is exactly where Young lands on his D#. Of course, it can easily be argued that the
musicians must have internalized the harmonic form to intuitively know that measure 53 rather
than measure 52 is a logical target for which to aim. However, a comparison of what the rhythm
section plays each bridge reveals that there is more of a resting point given to the tonic chord in
the first chorus. Accordingly, in that chorus Young is not quite as quick to leave the resolution
note and does not place as much importance on the D# in the succeeding bars. This is subtle, to
be sure, but often too are Young’s artistic sensibilities and musical choices.
The final way Young uses indirection in this solo is more transparent. His use of ear-
catching cross rhythms is well-known and he uses two of them in the final chorus of the solo.
The first example of time indirection occurs as he begins the second A section of the final
chorus. Very close to the golden mean, which falls in measure 39, this A section is the
emotional peak of the solo. Accordingly, his rhetorical gesture is big and less subtle than the
indirection discussed in previous examples. Since the focal point of his phrase is the 3/4 cross
rhythm, Young restricts his pitch content to enclosures of the tonic. Example 3.41 shows this
cross rhythm with upward-pointing triangles marking the beginning of each grouping.
Example 3.41 Time indirection using a tonic enclosure with 3/4 cross rhythm formula in “Lady
Be Good”
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3/4 and 3/8 cross rhythms are common in Young’s improvisations, and the effortless and
creative rephrasing of the third, fourth, and fifth iterations of the idea indicate his level of
comfort with it. Not surprisingly then, this idea is also found in another early period Young solo.
A more pared-down version of the formula occurs in Young’s “Honeysuckle Rose” solo,
recorded at Benny Goodman’s January 16, 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. In this slightly later
example, he uses a similar tonic enclosure but doesn’t vary the note pattern at all, unlike the
earlier figure. Coming in the ninth bar of his improvisation, Young may not want to add too
much tension this early in the solo. The additional flourishes in the “Lady Be Good” solo, by
contrast, make sense musically because they add to the excitement of the solo’s emotional peak.
Example 3.42 shows this same formula in “Honeysuckle Rose.”
Example 3.42 Tonic enclosure with 3/4 cross rhythm formula in Young’s 1938 solo on
“Honeysuckle Rose”
As just mentioned, Young also uses 3/8 cross rhythms frequently. In the last A section of
“Lady Be Good” he uses both a 3/4 and a 3/8 cross rhythm together in the final use of indirection
in the solo. The pitch pattern is a chromatically embellished variation of an idea found in the last
A section of his 1939 solo on “Taxi War Dance,” although without the cross rhythm. The upper
neighbor relationships with the tonic and dominant scale degrees appear to be embedded in
Young’s vocabulary. Examples 3.43 and 3.44 show the two related ideas. (Note: The A7(#5)
played by Count Basie in the “Taxi War Dance” solo clashes with Young’s idea, but the strong
identity of the idea and the previous repetitions make the dissonance more acceptable to the ear.)
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Example 3.43 Dominant and tonic notes with their upper neighbors in take one of Lester
Young’s March 19, 1939 recording of “Taxi War Dance”
Example 3.44 Dominant and tonic notes with upper neighbors, chromaticism, and 3/8 and 3/4
cross rhythms in “Lady Be Good”
The “Lady Be Good” version is the more elaborate of the two, but the comparison is
important to show what can be done with formulaic ideas in the hands of a master storyteller and
musical rhetorician. After establishing the upper neighbor-tonic relationship at the beginning of
measure 58, Young rephrases and transposes the idea down to the dominant, including the
chromatic connector between the two tones to create a 3/8 idea. Using transposed repetition, he
continues to move back and forth between the tonic and dominant version of the pattern. The 3/4
pattern is less obvious. In the example it is marked by the immediate repetition in tricolon that
results from combining each dominant and tonic version of the idea into a six-note grouping.
Perhaps most impressive, though, is how he creates a frame repetition using the gestures in
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measures 58 and 61-62. The phrase is nicely balanced by the upper neighbor-tonic at the start
and the upper neighbor-dominant at the close.
In the resolution of this phrase we come full circle, as it elides beautifully into the final
gesture of the solo – the last statement of motive A. (See line 6 in example 3.34 for this elision
into motive a.) And since the improvisation also began with motive a, this idea bookends the
entire solo with a final frame repetition. Once again we see Young looping back to make
connections to prior material. This reveals an integral part of the cyclical nature of African
American culture and rhetorical practice, as discussed by James Snead. In inherently embracing
repetition, he says there is “the notion of progress within cycle, ‘differentiation’ within
repetition.”127 He goes on to say that if there is a goal within Black culture, “it is always
deferred; it continually ‘cuts’ back to the start.”128 With figures that highlight the cyclical nature
of Young’s use of repetition, rhetorical analysis provides an ethnographically valid way to view
his improvisation: it is interpreted in the context of the culture within which it is found.
Perhaps, though, this is not that different from the ‘culture’ of good storytelling. In J.R.R
Tolkien’s The Hobbit, after returning from his adventures, the main character, Bilbo Baggins,
returns to his home in Bag-End and eventually tells his story in his memoirs. His title begins,
“There and Back Again . . . .”129 Except as both Bilbo and Lester Young knew, a good story
means that home is never exactly how you left it.
127 James Snead, “Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture,” in The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, ed.
Robert G. O’Meally (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 67. 128 James Snead, “Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture,” 69. 129 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Rev. ed. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966), 285.
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Sonny Rollins’ Tenor Saxophone Solo on “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” (Take 2)
November 3, 1957
Sonny Rollins solo on “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” contains a greater variety of
rhetorical strategies than any other solo in this study, including a number not found in the
previous analyses. Some of the new devices, and much of what is interesting about this solo, are
related to the Rollin’s use of “thematic improvisation.” This term was coined by Gunther
Schuller in his 1958 analysis of Rollins’ solo on “Blue Seven” and refers to the way that Rollins
draws on the song’s melody to generate the motives he uses.130 With the three main motives in
the “Softly” solo coming from the melody, Schuller could have easily used Rollins’
improvisation on this tune as the basis for his article.
The three motivic kernels for this solo come from the A section of the melody and are
shown in example 3.45.131 Two of the motives are circled, while the notes of the third are
denoted by inverted triangles.
Example 3.45 Sources for the three main motives in the melody of “Softly, as in a Morning
Sunrise”
130 Gunther Schuller, “Sonny Rollins and the Challenge of Thematic Improvisation” in Keeping Time: Readings
in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 212-222. 131 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” in The Standards Real
Book, ed. Chuck Sher and Larry Dunlap (Petaluma, CA. Sher Music, 2000), 393-394.
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Right from the beginning of the song Rollins reinterprets the melody, giving each eight-
bar section an identifiable motivic character with his rephrasing of the rhythm, articulation, use
of silence, and omission of melody notes. In measures 10, 12, and 14, Rollins contracts the line,
eliminating some of the repeated notes from the original melody. The three beats of rest that
occur each time the repeated notes are omitted creates fragmentation of the melody, a figure of
silence and omission, as the original two-bar idea is chopped into two shorter ones.132 Since
Rollins did play the missing notes in the previous section the listener is able to provide the
missing notes mentally. In this way, Rollins has an unspoken dialogue with the listener.
Measures 14 and 15 of this example also indicate how Rollins rephrases the ending motive idea
from the original melody in the previous example. Here he substitutes the fourth scale degree
for the fifth and eliminates the second scale degree. This new version of the idea becomes the
“ending” motive he works with throughout his solo. Example 3.46 shows the rephrasing in the
first two A sections of the song’s opening melody statement.
Example 3.46 Rephrasing of the melody in the first two A sections of “Softly, as in a Morning
Sunrise”
132 Bartel refers to this as tmesis: “a sudden interruption or fragmentation of the melody through rests.” See
Bartel, Musica Poetica, 412. The original rhetorical basis for this word is somewhat different, though. The Greek meaning of tmesis is “cutting.” Tmesis occurs when parts of speech that normally belong together are separated by other words. Lanham uses an example the statehood rallying cry of West Virginians: “West – By God – Virginia.” See Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 50, 151-52.
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Example 3.46 (cont.)
The contraction Rollins uses in the second A continues in the bridge. Rollins’ strategy
here is to eliminate the bottom voice of the compound melody. Although he omits the more
interesting of the two lines, he rephrases the top line with a pitch fall and articulation and
rhythmic changes to make this storyline engaging. His reinterpretation of this ‘standard’ from
the American Popular Songbook is another example of signifying. An important part of
signifying is that the community of listeners understands the revisions that occur. In the context
of this 1957 performance of this well-known tune at New York City’s Village Vanguard
nightclub, it is likely that the audiences does. As a further aid to the listener, this is the second
performance of the tune that night.133 In the first performance, Rollins’ articulates most of both
voices of the bridge, and so Rollins is not just signifying on the melody in the second
performance, but he is also signifying on his performance of it earlier that evening. Example
3.47 shows the original melody of the bridge with the bottom line of the compound melody
indicated by upward-pointing triangles.134 Rollins improvised revisions of the bridge follow this
in example 3.48.
133 “Sonny Rollins Discography,” The Jazz Discography Project, accessed March 18, 2015,
http://www.jazzdisco.org/sonny-rollins/discography/. 134 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” 393-394.
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Example 3.47 The bridge of the original melody of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
Example 3.48 Contraction and Signifying in the opening melody of the bridge in “Softly, as in a
Morning Sunrise”
Example 3.48 also shows how signifying and rephrasing is influenced by dialogue with
fellow performers. Responding to Rollins’ minimalist approach to the first part of the bridge, or
perhaps wanting to articulate the return to the A section, the bassist, Wilbur Ware, begins to
break up the time in bar 22. In the next bar Ware runs eighth notes down to a sustained,
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suspenseful note on the upbeat of beat four, and Elvin Jones follows with a drum fill. At the end
of this bar, Rollins responds to the bass and drums by putting a break on beat four and adding to
the suspense. He then delays the last phrase of the melody, starting three beats into the final A
section.135
Following his melody statement, Rollins improvises for two choruses in which he
develops material from the song’s melody and its related motives extensively. In the first A
section, he immediately signifies on the tonic motive with his solo pick-ups. His ascending tonic
triad ending on the downbeat of measure 33 is essentially a retrograde of the descending 8-5-3-1
pattern of the A section. Since the original melody does not juxtapose these notes, the figure is
labeled as an antithesis rather than a retrograde in the analysis in example 3.49. Then, in
measures 36 and 37, he paraphrases the melody. He expands the note values, playing in a low-
key manner, with a dark, almost subtone sound. So when his sixteenth note exclamation comes
a beat after the paraphrase ends, it catches the listener by surprise. Lanham describes this
exclamatio or ecophonesis rhetorically as an “exclamation expressing emotion,”136 while Bartel
notes its musical-rhetorical use as a musical counterpart to an exclamation in the text of Baroque
vocal music. Beyond the projection of elevated emotion, this figure of amplification can take
many musical forms, but it sets itself apart from the surrounding texture.137 And that is precisely
135 The rhetorical term for break is abruptio. It appears to be used infrequently in rhetorical circles, although
Bartel cites its use by the classical Roman poet Virgil, who used it to denote breaking off in the middle of one’s speech. Bartel’s musical-rhetorical definition is “a sudden and unexpected break in the middle of a composition.” A number of Baroque music scholars mention the frequent use of this break before an expected consonance or the completion of a cadence. These additional Baroque characteristics aptly describe the break’s traditional use in jazz. Bartel also indicates that the break occurs in all voices. This is not as common in jazz, where typically at least one voice continues on, especially in a solo capacity. However, one could consider a break in the time-keeping function by all the rhythm section voices a jazz equivalent to abruptio. The Rollins example, interestingly, does have the solo voice taking part in the break, although the break is dealt with differently by each voice, as described above. See Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 167-170, 412.
136 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 61. 137 Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 265-69.
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the case here, because after an abrupt break on an upper register D, Rollins returns to the same
lower emotional state and timbre with which he was playing just a few bars earlier. Example
3.49 shows the first A section of chorus one.
Example 3.49 Antithesis, exclamation, and tonal semantics in the beginning of “Softly, as in a
Morning Sunrise”
The exclamation in this passage is related to and enhanced by other rhetorical figures.
When Rollins returns to his more modest tone in measure 41, he lands again on an A, the same
pitch he was on before his outburst. His use of the same dark, nearly subtone timbre is
unmistakable on this note. This use of tonal semantics clearly connects measures 36 and 37 to
bar 41 and it also frames the intervening sixteenth notes with a parenthesis, a figure of dialogue
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that is another ‘punctuation’ figure like exclamation. Quintilian says it “occurs when the normal
flow of the oration is interrupted in the middle by another thought.”138 Corbett puts the figure
into context in a way that illuminates how Rollins uses it here:
The distinguishing mark of the parenthesis is that the interpolated member is “cut off” from the
syntax of the rest of the sentence. A parenthesis abruptly – and usually briefly – sends the
thought off on a tangent. Although the parenthetical matter is not necessary for the grammatical
completeness of the sentence, it does have a pronounced rhetorical effect. For a brief moment
we hear the author’s voice, commenting, editorializing, and, for that reason, the sentence gets an
emotional charge that it would otherwise not have.139
This “cutting off,” or interruption, of the normal thought and flow of the underlying phrase is
exactly what occurs in measure 38. The paraphrased A melody note is abandoned mid-thought;
the entire idea is not completed until Rollins returns to the A via the descending gesture in
measures 40 and 41. Likewise, the sixteenth note flurry appears to end not with a completed
idea, but an unexpected truncation of the emotional outburst.140 A number of rhetorical and
musical-rhetorical sources refer to this as aposiopesis. Most sources indicate this figure involves
a sudden and unexpected break in the spoken or melodic line, as if overcome by emotion or lack
of breath and unable to continue; alternatively, as seen here, it can also be a break in the line
after a passionate outburst in the interest of returning to a more modest tone of voice.141 Note
138 Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, IX.iii.23, trans. H. E. Butler (London: Heinemann, 1921; Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1966). Quoted in Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 349.
139 Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 432. 140 Interestingly, in terms of the melodic paraphrase that was begun in measure 36, the sixteenth note run
does complete the A section melody, as indicated by the circled notes in it. These notes occur in peaks of line contour (the Bb, A, and final D) or fall on a beat (the F and E). On one hand, this does not seem like a coincidence given how well the important points in the line track the melody. If so, this is an awe-inspiring example of how Rollins can track the melody even in a fast and complicated figure. On the other hand, he plays the last half of this run again almost verbatim in measures 79 and 80, and one wonders if this line is a formula of his. Either way, the analysis of this line ending in a truncation in measure 39 holds up.
141 Ross Scaife and Ernest Ament, “A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples,” University of Kentucky, accessed August 19, 2013, http://mcl.uky.edu/glossary-rhetorical-terms; Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, 153; Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 20.
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how Rollins makes this break a surprise. The quick rise in tessitura and dynamic level occurring
before the break increases tension, giving no expectation that the idea is about to end. Further,
the tonic pitch indirection in measure 39 thwarts a strong sense of resolution and leads the
listener to expect the line to continue. Example 3.50 again shows the last four measures of the
first A section of the solo, this time with the two new figures highlighted.
Example 3.50 Parenthesis and truncation in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
Having begun the solo with the tonic motive, Rollins next turns to the ending motive as
the basis for the second A section of the opening chorus. After dove-tailing the end of a short
scalar retrograde into the beginning of the ending motive, he rephrases it twice more to create a
tricolon presentation of the idea. The most interesting aspect of these three versions is how they
all use a different language to communicate the same basic idea. This is another example of
dialogue, which has already been discussed in the context of multiple voice lines in the Jim Hall
and Lester Young solos. Again, this rhetorical device brings in another point-of-view, even if
one is just reasoning with oneself. After the initial diatonic statement of the ending motive in
measures 44 and 45, Rollins plays the next one using blues language. The use of the b5 of the
scale, the internal repetition, and the triplet rhythm make his stylistic reference clear. The third
use of this motive is in the language of bebop, as he once again double-times his line and uses
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harmonic substitution to reference this style. While bassist Wilbur Ware set-ups the new key,
Rollins superimposes an A7(b5) to Dmi progression to stretch the tonic key a little farther for
one last exploration of the motive. Rollins continues to juxtapose these three languages
throughout the solo, making his signifying on Sigmund Romberg’s standard a thematic element
in the solo. Example 3.51 shows the ending motive in the last six bars of this A section.
Example 3.51 The ending motive stated via melody, blues, and bebop language in “Softly, as in
a Morning Sunrise”
From this last bebop statement of the ending motive through the bridge, Rollins stays in
the bebop language. From his G in measure 48, to the A in measure 51, and finally up to his Bb
in measure 54, he plays consecutively longer phrases that build to a climax, before unwinding in
a descending anticlimax down to the tonic on the downbeat of measure 57. At the peak of this
section in measure 54 he does two additional things of rhetorical interest. First, while Ware is
playing a iiø7/V then a V7/V, Rollins is anticipating the upcoming V7(b9) chord, thereby
creating harmonic indirection. In addition to anticipating an upcoming chord change, this
device can be used to delay the change into a new harmonic area. Either way there is a
temporary dissonance between the soloist and the underlying harmony until the soloist and
rhythm section line up again. Keeping in mind that an indirect statement is frequently preferred
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to the direct in African American communication, when a jazz musician uses figures of pitch,
time and harmonic indirection, he is in a sense intimating, “You’re here? Well, I’m not here, I’m
there. And there is the right place to be.” Having heard the arguments on both sides, the listener
is rewarded artistically when the disagreement is eventually resolved. This what we hear when
both Rollins and Ware strongly articulate the tonic when they get to the A section a few bars
later. Example 3.52 shows this harmonic indirection coming at the end of a long climax and
followed by an anticlimax into the last A section of chorus one.
Example 3.52 Climax, anticlimax, harmonic indirection, and conjunction in “Softly, as in a
Morning Sunrise”
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The second figure of interest in measure 54 adds to the impact of Rollins articulation of
the A7(b9) harmony just described. Rather than simply spelling a descending A7 chord in
sixteenth notes, he extends the line with chromatic leading tones to each chord tone. (Note that
the aggregate pitch set in this bar is an A auxiliary diminished scale.) The effect of this is to
draw even more attention to the chord tones and also create an exciting back-and-forth flow of
tension and release in the line. He uses the same principle two bars later in the anticlimax
phrase. Here he uses enclosure of the dominant and tonic in slower eighth note values to give
weight to the descending line that eventually resolves in a melody paraphrase in measure 57.
The chromatic leading tones and the enclosures are examples of conjunction. Rhetoricians refer
to this as polysyndeton, when additional conjunctions are used beyond what is needed for correct
syntax. The additional connectors influence the rhythm and flow of speech,142 often giving an
improvised quality to the delivery,143 and can create an emotional impact.144
After some melodic paraphrase in the last A section of the first chorus, Rollins turns up
the rhetorical heat as he approaches the next chorus. In measure 63 his blues gesture morphs into
the ending motive, which in turn resolves into an inversion of the softly motive as he begins the
second chorus. He then repeats this motive in a tricolon statement, greatly expanding the motive
the third time with his use of hyperbole, before once again playing the ending motive.
Hyperbole is a well-known figure of amplification common in every day speech. Quintilian
recognized it as a rhetorical device centuries ago, saying that it has a “bold nature. It is an
142 Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 435-36. 143 Kaiser, Shakespeare’s Wordcraft, 37. 144 Wheeler gives the following example of a student using this figure to communicate the feeling of being
overwhelmed by her course load: “This term, I am taking biology and English and history and math and music and physics and sociology.” See Wheeler, “Schemes,” Rhetoric, last modified March 2, 2015, http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/schemes.html.
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acceptable overstatement of the truth.”145 Lanham defines it as “Exaggerated or extravagant
terms used for emphasis and not intended to be understood literally; self-conscious
exaggeration.”146 Musically, this emphasis can be made in many ways. Here, for example,
Rollins continues a gesture beyond the point at which the musical argument has reasonably been
made. This occurs with his drone on the fifth scale degree in measures 67 and 68, before he
finally plays the two-eighth note ending to the softly motive inversion on the downbeat of bar 69.
Adding to the rhetorical effect, and certainly influencing Rollins’ musical direction, is Ware’s
use of a tonic pedal in measures 65 and 66. When the bassist calls, Rollins responds with this
motive and the associated hyperbole. This is all shown in example 3.53, with the inversion of
the softly motive framed by the ending motive.
Example 3.53 Hyperbole, recitation tone, and call and response used in the “softly” motive
inversion, framed by the ending motive in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
145 Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, VIII.vi.67, quoted in Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in
German Baroque Music, 306. 146 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 86.
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Example 3.53 (cont.)
In the second A section of this chorus, Rollins continues to work around the A above the
staff as the focal point of the prior A section. This time he does this with the repetitions of the
original version of the softly motive in measures 73 to 76, and again closing with the ending
motive, expressed in blues and bebop language. This is shown in example 3.54.
Example 3.54 Recitation tone in the “softly” motive, followed by the ending motive in “Softly
as in a Morning Sunrise”
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The A focal point found in the previous two examples, from measures 65 to 76 reveals
another uniquely African American rhetorical device called recitation tone. Drawing on Jeff
Titon’s unpublished paper “Tonal System in the Chanted Oral Sermons of the Reverend C.L.
Franklin,” Lewis Porter writes about this rhetorical strategy used by Black preachers:
The chant is divided into sections according to pitch apexes, for which we may use the more
familiar term recitation tones. The first section of a preacher’s chant uses a recitation tone a
perfect fifth above the tonal center. Succeeding sections have progressively higher recitation
tones – the minor seventh and, at points requiring special emphasis, the octave. The final section
is the most intense and uses a mixture of all the preceding recitation tones.147
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s church background is revealed in a pitch analysis of his
“I have a Dream” speech, bringing into relief the dominant recitation tone laid out by Porter.
The speech also sheds additional light on the first two A sections in the second chorus of Sonny
Rollins’ solo. In the opening of King’s address, his pitch focuses on the Bb below the staff,
establishing this as his first important recitation tone,148 and in the retrospect of analysis, his
tonic. In the first half of the 16-minute speech, he very gradually moves up in pitch with a
general chromatic rise in recitation tones. Approximately 60% of the way through the speech,
the chromaticism of his delivery increases. In the minute before he reaches the dominant apex
he approaches this pitch repeatedly, rising chromatically in a short span of time from C to either
Eb or E, then falling back to do it again. Finally, when he speaks the words “I have a dream
today,” he completes the ascent to F at a rhetorical high point in the speech. Over the next few
phrases, King moves back and forth between E and F. As the V/V leading tone of the F, the E
147 Lewis Porter, “John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme:’ Jazz Improvisation as Composition,” Journal of the
American Musicological Society, vol. 38, no. 3 (Autumn, 1985): 593-621, http://www.jstor.org/stable/831480. 148 Although Porter’s article only describes recitation tones as occurring at the fifth, minor seventh, and
octave, it also doesn’t specifically exclude other pitches from functioning in this way. In fact, Porter’s analysis of John Coltrane’s solo on ”Psalm,” from A Love Supreme, notes the significant use of the minor third as another focal point, in addition to the fifth and octave. See Lewis Porter, “John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme:’ Jazz Improvisation as Composition,” 614-19.
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signifies (on) the F, and the latter note is the ultimate recitation tone for this part of speech.
After saying how little black and white children will become brothers and sisters, he once again
returns to the “I have a dream today” phrase just before the crowd erupts in response to his
message. In each of the three uses of this expression in this section of the speech (and the next,
not shown in the example) he is either on an F or working towards an F when he says these
words. Example 3.55 shows the portion of King’s speech where he arrives at the dominant
apex.149
Example 3.55 Arrival at the dominant climax and recitation tone in the twelfth minute of Martin
Luther King’s “I have a Dream Speech”
149 In the last minute of his speech King moves up beyond the dominant three times, all at important peaks.
Two of these involve a minor third skip up to the minor seventh above the Bb tonic, the first with a pendular third motion. This is notable, because other high points are also approached in a stepwise, often chromatic fashion. This places the minor seventh in a place of importance in the solo. Beginning with the tonic, centering on the dominant for the last part of the speech, and soaring up to the minor seventh in the end portion of the solo – this all confirms the existence of the type of tonal rest points described by Porter.
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Example 3.55 (cont.)
There are a number of connections between the King excerpt and the second chorus of
Rollins’ solo. First, the most obvious connection is the use of the dominant recitation tone in a
place of rhetorical importance in each communication. Both communicators are achieving a
peak in their delivery and message at this point. Second, the dominant is associated with a
thematic element in both messages. In King’s oration, it is the “I have a dream” phrase; in
Rollins solo, it is the softly motive and its inversion. Third, both communications use hyperbole
to create an emotional impact – King through his non-literal description of how the Alabama
Governor is obstructing the movement towards racial equality; Rollins’ through his repeated
notes. Finally, they both occur at a point where their audience/fellow performers are sufficiently
motivated by the message to become part of it. For the speaker, the response comes in
affirmations from the listeners (indicated in parentheses in example 3.55); for the saxophonist,
the response comes from the bassist’s tonic pedal.
While the dominant recitation tone marks an important high point for both Rollins and
King, each goes on to an even higher point in tessitura. King reaches his ultimate peak a minor
third higher, as described earlier, while Rollins pinnacle is a minor third higher than his previous
peaks on the D tonic. This peak for Rollins occurs in the bridge of the second chorus and once
again involves hyperbole. As indicated earlier, there are a number of ways this figure can be
effected, and this second use of the device is different from the first. While the earlier one
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involves excess repetition, this one uses a wide, two-octave range,150 a number of mainly triadic
skips, and a behind-the-beat phrasing that gives the line a sweeping, rhapsodic quality. This is a
grand gesture by Rollins, as if he is sweeping away any possible challenges to his argument, to
give an important pronouncement. And just as the previous use of hyperbole was tied into the
tonic motive, so too is this one. The skip from the dominant to the tonic in the key of F found in
measure 82 outlines this, and is even mirrored in bar 87 with another fourth skip up to the root of
an Emi7 chord. Example 3.56 shows this second use of hyperbole in the bridge, beginning with
the tonic motive and then switching to bebop language for the remainder of the passage.
Example 3.56 A second, different use of hyperbole in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
150 As one of her “tools of affect,” Tarling discusses hyperbole and its frequent manifestation in tessitura.
Moving either higher or lower than the usual voice range portrays a particularly strong emotion. See Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric: A Guide for Musicians and Audiences, 74-75.
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Rollins’ bridge shows one final connection to the King excerpt and his use of hyperbole.
Along with creating a memorable but unrealistic image (“his lips dripping with the words”),
King’s point is balanced and reinforced at the sentence’s end by the lofty language and the
rhythmic qualities to the words he uses: “interposition and nullification.” The first and third
words contain five syllables and they roll off his tongue with a rhythmic cadence. Geneva
Smitherman speaks to this type of language and rhythm use in her discussions of the African
American rhetorical tradition. Regarding the use of “exaggerated language,” she notes the use of
uncommon words and expressions, often found in sentences constructed in an elevated and
formal manner for emphasis.151 Smitherman also recognizes the important role that rhythm and
musicality play in Black oral communication. Discussing “rhythmic pattern,” she says that it
contains “cadence, tone, and musical quality. This is a pattern that is lyrical, sonorous, and
generally emphasizing sound apart from sense. It is often established through repetition, either
of certain sounds or words.”152 These same language and rhythm qualities are found in the final
portions of Rollins’ improvisation. After the initial tonic motive statement at the beginning of
the bridge, the rest of the line seems to be less about the actual notes Rollins plays than how he
plays it. The exaggerated language of the triadic skips are not particularly melodic, but they help
create a strong musical gesture, made even more so by his emphatic and formal delivery. His
rhythms pull against the beat and the swing of the bass and drums, signifying a different take on
the tonic motive.
Smitherman’s concept of “tone” can also be seen in the last eight bars of Rollins’
improvisation, and helps give a strong sense of completion to the solo, as do several other
factors. Each of the three main motives or its inversion is stated one final time here,
151 Smitherman, Talkin and Testifyin, 94. 152 Smitherman, Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, 64.
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accompanied by pitch bends and a nasal, pinched quality on the G’s above the staff on the ending
motive. This use of tonal semantics sets these motivic statements apart from their earlier
occurrences. They also establish a connection between the three motives here that is stronger
than anything previously found in the solo. In addition, the ending motive, used so frequently to
conclude a phrase or section, is used twice here – once after each of the other motives. Finally,
Rollins uses space liberally to allow the listener to fully absorb these summary statements.
Example 3.57 shows these three motives together in the last A section of the solo.
Example 3.57 All three motives brought together at the end of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
The way that Rollins uses the ending motive as a structural device to end phrases and
important sections of his solo is very similar to what both Jim Hall and Lester Young do in their
solos. Again, rhetorical devices like the ending repeat figure can outline structural relationships
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between solos more clearly than other forms of analysis. This comparison also reveals that
Rollins, unlike the other two artists, adds a final parting thought after this ending motive.
Rollins leaves the listener with a reminder of yet another theme of the solo: the
juxtaposition of different types of language and the use of indirection to continually reinterpret
his ideas in the context of this standard tune. Taken from the language of the melody, he has
previously translated the ending motive into the languages of the blues and bebop, as well as
used harmonic substitution to apply indirection to the idea. Here in measures 94 and 95, his final
reinterpretation of this motive uses time indirection and a hint of the blues gesture from measure
46 (see example 3.51). Decidedly not an ending gesture, he balances this with an antithetical
bebop flourish that firmly re-establishes the beat and resolves strongly into the downbeat to give
a stronger sense of finality to the chorus.
With the three main motives used in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” all coming from
the melody, Rollins’ use and development of these ideas shows why the term “thematic
improvisation” has been applied to his work. The rhetorical analysis provided here confirms the
value of thematic improvisation analysis, but also provides an opportunity to go even deeper into
Rollins’ crafting and meaning of his musical message. By augmenting motivic analysis with a
rhetorical approach that also incorporates uniquely African American communication devices
like harmonic indirection and recitation tone, a fuller appreciation of Rollins’ artistry and
signifying on the composition is possible. Rhetorical analysis also adds a new layer of musical
meaning to Rollins’ message when it reveals how he signifies on a motive by playing it three
times in a row – but each time in a different musical language.
The next solo, by Miles Davis, provides an interesting comparison to Rollin’s work. In
“My Funny Valentine” Davis uses fewer motives and less motivic development. In both his
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treatment of the melody and his improvisation, though, he demonstrates the same incisive ability
to get to the core of the tune as does Rollins, and this is reflected in the rhetorical devices found
in his performance.
Miles Davis’ Trumpet Solo on “My Funny Valentine,” February 12, 1964
In an article containing an analysis of this solo, Robert Walser refers to Miles Davis as a
“problem” for jazz writers. The focal point of this difficulty is Davis’s technical proficiency on
the trumpet, which Walser says critics and historians either tend to gloss over or be something
they cannot quite get past in their ultimate judgment on him as musician.153 Walser summarizes
the latter position: “The best that can be said of Miles Davis in this light is that he was a good
musician but a bad trumpet player.”154 Some Davis critics, such as James Lincoln Collier, go
even farther, attacking his musicianship. Walser addresses this criticism:
Collier’s complaint is that Davis lacks originality, formal regularity, timbral purity and
consistency, and technical facility. But would Davis’s playing really be better if his sound
were more pure and uniform, or his phrases more regular? By claiming that Davis failed to
measure up to presumably objective musical standards, Collier suggests that Davis was not a
good trumpet player or a good musician, despite the popularity and respect he has earned
from fans and musicians.155
Walser also suggests a way forward:
When critical judgments become so out of sync with the actual reception of the music
they address, it may be time to reexamine some basic premises. Perhaps there is a way of
theorizing Davis’s playing that would account for its power to affect deeply many listeners. .
. . The uneasiness many critics display towards Miles Davis’s ‘mistakes,’ and their failure to
explain the power of his playing, suggests that there are important gaps in the paradigms of
musical analysis and interpretation that dominate jazz studies. Understanding Davis’s
153 Robert Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 343-44. 154 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 344. 155 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 344-45.
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missed notes and accounting for his success as a performer may require rethinking some of
our assumptions about what and how music means. . . . I will argue that Gate’s theory of
signifying might yet be applied at a finer level of musical analysis to illuminate the
significance of specific musical details and the rhetoric of performance.156
Using the perspective of signifying, Walser recognizes the rhetorical value in Davis’s
performances. Davis’s reinterpretation of a standard such as “My Funny Valentine” succeeds
because of, not in spite of, his technical capabilities and his risk-taking as a trumpet player and
artist. Another important reason for the rhetorical strength and success of his playing on a tune
like this is the intimate musical dialogue that Davis has with his early 1960’s rhythm section of
pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. There are also
subtleties in his playing that are often neglected by many jazz musicians – shadings of tonal
color and dynamics, and intricacies of rhythm and phrasing – that can be addressed in rhetorical
analysis.157
“My Funny Valentine” is a tune that is often associated with Davis and one that he
performed and recorded often. From his first recording of it in 1956, he recorded it at least nine
times over the next ten years.158 His live 1964 recording of it is considered to be a masterpiece
of the mid-1960’s portion of his career. Despite this, he initially did not understand the meaning
of the song. While sharing his thoughts on Billie Holiday in a 1958 interview he made this clear:
“[Billie’s] become much more mature. Sometimes you can sing words every night for five
years, and all of a sudden it dawns on you what the song means. I played ‘My Funny Valentine’
156 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 344. 157 While Walser’s analysis discusses signifying and its component dialogical qualities in more depth than
anyone except for Floyd in the context of a performance, he does not use the principles of rhetorical analysis as outlined in this study. His discussions of the social and artistic context of signifying and classicism and the “jazz canon” are illuminating, however, and consistent with the rhetorical analysis of Davis’s work in this study.
158 “Miles Davis Discography,” The Jazz Discography Project, accessed April 25, 2015, http://www.jazzdisco.org/miles-davis/discography/.
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for a long time – and didn’t like it – and all of a sudden it meant something.”159 When it was that
Davis came to appreciate and understand the tune is unclear, but already by 1954 he thought
enough of his abilities to play it that he choose this ballad as his one song to play when sitting in
with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet at Baker’s Lounge in Detroit.160
A comparison between the opening melody of Davis’s 1964 version, his earlier
recordings of the tune, and the original Richard Rodgers’s melody provides insight into his
conception of the song. First, based on these opening bars, it appears that that his mature notion
of the tune was in place by the earliest recording in 1956. In three different versions, he
contracts and fragments the melody, playing a short mordent-type figure each time he arrives at
the “valentine” lyric on the downbeats of measures two and four. He then leaves a significant
amount of space after each mordent. His deliberate and distinctive phrasing indicates a personal
connection to the tune and the message he is conveying. Example 3.58 shows the original
melody,161 while examples 3.59 to 3.61 contain three versions Davis recorded in 1956, 1958, and
1964, respectively.
Example 3.58 Original melody of “My Funny Valentine,” measures 1 to 8
159 Nat Hentoff, “An Afternoon with Miles Davis,” in The Miles Davis Companion, edited by Gary Carner, 86-
92. (New York: Schirmer, 1996), 87. Originally published in Jazz Review (December 1958). 160 Miles Davis, Miles: The Autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989), 173-74. 161 Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, “My Funny Valentine,” in The Standards Real Book, edited by Chuck Sher
and Larry Dunlap, 315. Petaluma, CA. Sher Music, 2000.
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Example 3.59 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,” October
26, 1956
Example 3.60 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,” July 28,
1958
Example 3.61 Opening melody statement by Miles Davis on “My Funny Valentine,” February
12, 1964
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Example 3.61 (cont.)
Of the three recordings, the 1964 version is the most removed from the romantic qualities
often associated with a ballad. The opening bars are free of tempo, as Hancock and Davis
alternate short statements with plenty of space between each one. In Davis’s first entrance he
plays with a fragile, straight tone at a mezzo-piano dynamic level. Whereas most musicians
would make the second statement bigger than the first, Davis does not. He plays the second
statement even softer, as if retreating into himself. The understatement of these opening bars is
the opposite of hyperbole, and is known rhetorically as litotes. Lanham indicates that litotes
comes from the Greek, meaning “plainness” or “simplicity.” Understatement amplifies the
message by denying the contrary, or, as here, where “more is understood than said.”162
The next gesture, similar in the 1958 and 1964 recordings, provides a hyperbolic contrast
to these first four bars. In both versions, Davis begins with a melodic inversion of the original
bar-five melody before expanding the middle of the phrase to work up to the Bb. At this point
the two versions differ. Rather than working down from this high point in a diatonic third
pattern as he does in the 1958 take, in the last version he sustains the high point for nearly a full
bar. In the next measure of the latter version he uses connective repetition when he plays the
162 Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 95.
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note again. But since it is an octave lower, a dynamic softer, and has a completely different tonal
shading in his pitch bend down to the A, it is full of signifying. This phrase signifies on the more
“straight” romantic versions of this song that he and the audience have heard and even his own
previous versions such the 1958 recording. By eliminating the intervening notes of the earlier
recording, Davis maintains a strong connection between the octave Bb’s and yet ironically draws
a stronger contrast between them as he returns to the stark and sparse understatement of the first
four measures of the tune.
This Bb in measure eight is used to signify in other ways, as Walser points out, referring
to the pitches in concert key:
That next note . . . is rich in signifyin’. Davis plays an A-flat in the normal way, with the
trumpet’s first valve depressed. He then slides down to a G without changing valves. This
is a technique that, on the trumpet, is difficult, risky, and relatively rare. Acoustically, the
trumpet should not be able to play any notes between A-flat and E-flat with only the first
valve depressed; Davis must bend the note with his lips without letting it crack down to the
next harmonic. The result is a fuzzy sound, not quite in tune. There is no conceivable
situation in classical trumpet playing where such a sound would be desirable. Yet, in this
solo, it is the audible sign of Davis’s effort and risk, articulating a moment of strain that
contributes to the affect of his interpretation.163
The tonal semantics of this note signify on the standard of trumpet playing that values
cleanliness and accuracy. And with his simple Bb’s replacing the flurry of notes in the earlier
version he is further signifying on instrumental virtuosity (including his own). If one judges
Miles Davis the trumpet player for what is missing from his playing, one will likely miss the
richly nuanced message sent by Miles Davis the communicator.
In the second A section of the melody, the full rhythm section enters and Davis continues
the type of oblique melody references that he made in the last half of the first A section. The
163 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 353.
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original melody notes provide a basic structure around which he builds completely new phrases
that often convey a different melodic message than Rodgers’ original composition. This can be
seen in the expansion of the melody in measure 14 with another ascending run analogous to
measure six. There is extensive harmonic reinterpretation, too, with Carter and Hancock
providing a very different harmonic backdrop from the original chords and the previous A
section. For example, in measures nine through twelve, the bass plays an ostinato A to D pattern
while Hancock plays EbMA13(#11) to suggest to Davis a D Phrygian mode. Davis make the
most of this by choosing to linger on the dissonant Eb in measure 10 before eventually coming
back to a melody reference two bars later to resolve the tension. (This melody reference is not to
the original measure 12 melody; it is to the melody found in measures two and four). As Davis
mentions in his autobiography, this is one of the tunes the band played every night,164 and the
ongoing signifying dialogue between the musicians and the tune is evident throughout this
performance. Example 3.62 shows the second A section of the first chorus.
Example 3.62 Melodic and harmonic reinterpretation in the second A section, chorus one, in
“My Funny Valentine”
164 Miles Davis, Miles: The Autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989), 278.
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Example 3.62 (cont.)
In the bridge, there is more signifying on and dialogue with the melodic and harmonic
structure of the tune. Davis begins by inverting the first two notes of the melody before moving
away from it with an expansive forte statement that avoids the repetitive F-E-F of the original
melody in these two bars. His next phrase is the antithesis of this as he returns to the opening
mood of the solo, beginning at a soft dynamic and playing another contracted, spacious melodic
statement. Here he signifies on his earlier choice to avoid the F-E-F combination because now it
is the focal point of measures 19 to 22. This toying with the melody, withholding it when
expected and returning to it when unexpected, provides an interesting balance of contrasts that
Davis uses throughout the solo. Similarly, when he returns to the melody, he recasts it, like
Sonny Rollins does in the opening bridge of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” (see example
3.48). Davis contracts the 1-7-1 idea in measures 19 and 20, expands the leading tone in
measure 21, and then contracts the whole idea again. Gates speaks to what Davis is doing when
he says:
[A] great musician often tries to make musical phrases that are elastic in their formal
properties. These elastic phrases stretch the form rather than articulate the form. Because
the form is self-evident to the musician, both he and his well-trained audience are playing
and listening with expectation. Signifyin(g) disappoints these expectations; caesuras, or
breaks, achieve the same function. This form of disappointment creates a dialogue between
what the listener expects and what the artist plays. Whereas younger, less mature,
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musicians accentuate the beat, more accomplished musicians do not have to do so. They
feel free to imply it.165
Davis’s dialogue with and signifying on the melody of the tune can be seen by comparing
example 3.63, which contains the standard melody and chords of the bridge of the tune,166 and
example 3.64, which contains Davis’s version of the bridge in his first chorus.
Example 3.63 Standard “lead sheet” of the bridge of “My Funny Valentine”
Example 3.64 Signifying and dialogue in the bridge of the melody chorus of “My Funny
Valentine”
165 Gates, The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, 123. 166 Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, “My Funny Valentine,” 316.
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Example 3.64 (cont.)
The harmonic structure is also reinterpreted by Davis and the rhythm section. The FMA7
to Eb13 vamp signifies on the F major key by affirming the leading tone on the first chord and
then negating it with the flat seven of the second chord. Davis does this too; however, while the
rhythm section is making the change every two beats, he plays the flat seventh scale degree
thorough the first two bars and then makes the change to the natural seventh after that. He deftly
avoids any strong clashes by using lower neighbor tones to soften the dissonance; in measure 18
he anticipates the flat seventh of the Eb13, and in each of the next two measures he uses the
leading tone as a lower neighbor tone on the Eb13 to reinforce the tonic key along with his
melody references. Harmonically, there is a three-way dialogue between the original
composition, the rhythm section with its reinterpretation, and Davis, with his slightly different
but complementary reinterpretation.167
167 Shedding a different light on the concepts of signifying and dialogue, and relevant to this example is the
concept of “apart playing” found in West African dance and music. Drawing on the work of Robert Farris Thompson and others, Benjamin Givan notes that “’Apartness’ occurs whenever individual performers in an ensemble interact by simultaneously playing – or dancing – different, complementary things.” He continues: “Because playing apart affords each member of a group a discrete personal space, it involves a tension between individual autonomy and collectivity, a dialogic state that, according to Thompson, is common to both dance and music and indeed facilitates their mutual bond.” While Thompson discusses apart playing in antiphony and use of multiple meters, Givan notes that its use also extends to “harmonic substitution or playing outside of a given harmony or scale,” as in this example. See Benjamin Givan, “Apart Playing: McCoy Tyner and ‘Bessie’s Blues,’” Journal of the Society for American Music, vol. 1, no. 2 (2007): 257-58. Accessed March 30, 2015. https://academics.skidmore.edu/blogs/bgivan/files/2014/07/GiVAN-Tyner-JSAM.pdf.
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An example from King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” also shows the power of combining
dialogue and signifying in the African American communicative traditions, informing what
Miles Davis has done here. In the portion of his speech where he develops his “dream” theme,
King says (with audience responses in parentheses):
I have a dream (“mm-hmm”) that one day, (“yes”) this nation will rise up, and live out
the true meaning of its creed (“hah!”): ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal’ (“ye-es,” and applause).168
Here we have another signifying three-way dialogue – between King, the Declaration of
Independence, and the audience, who provide both affirmation of King’s message and
commentary on America’s shortcomings in living up to its values (“hah!”). By quoting the
Declaration, King shows reverence for the ideals of the document while using them to signify on
America, who has not yet risen to the task of fully implementing them.
The bridge just discussed is also a good place to again explore the issue of mistakes in
Davis’s playing as it relates to the crafting of his message. As indicated in example 3.65, there is
a frack in measure 17. Instead of the intended Eb, he cracks the note and the C below it sounds
more prominently. Walser discusses this phrase, indicating that the next two gestures in bar 18
are purposely played in a similar fashion to the earlier cracked note to make them connect
thematically.169 In most forms of analysis, it would be easy to write off the mistake and say the
phrase is flawed. But in doing so, the connection to the next notes is diminished, and it would
also be easy to miss the stepwise descending motion through the F and E to the D in measure 19,
where he slides back into the melody for a contrasting phrase, as previously discussed. Example
168 See appendix C for the transcription of King’s speech. On the words “this nation will rise up, and live out”
King ascends chromatically, and distinctly, in pitch from C to Eb. This word painting adds power to this passage and is a signal to the listener to pay attention to the upcoming message.
169 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 355.
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3.65 once again shows measures 17 to 19, this time with the tonal semantics connecting the frack
in measure 17 to the gestures in the next bar.
Example 3.65 A mistake informing subsequent gestures through tonal semantics in “My Funny
Valentine”
This is not to say that Davis was cavalier about his mistakes. Rather, Walser notes, he
“simply accepted them as a consequence of the way he played.”170 Furthermore, there is an in-
the-moment, “Zen” quality in Davis’s playing; he incorporates everything that goes on around
him musically, and the mistakes are a part of that process, as this phrase shows. In Davis’s
words: “When they make records with all the mistakes in, as well as the rest, then they’ll really
make jazz records . . . If the mistakes aren’t there too, it ain’t none of you.”171
In the last A section of the first chorus, the elastic approach taken with the melodic and
harmonic structure of the tune continues and is extended to the treatment of the form. There are
relatively few melodic references to the tune in this section, and Davis doesn’t play more than
three melody notes together anywhere. Instead, he uses a recitation tone as a focal point. For the
third time in this chorus, Davis peaks on a Bb above the staff, the highest pitch played to this
170 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 356. 171 Jack Chambers, Milestones: The music and Times of Miles Davis, vol. 1 (New York: Da Capo, 1998), 236.
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point. This pitch and its eventual resolution tone, A, are the key pitches in this section.172 A
fortissimo scalar run leads up to the Bb, which dominates measures 30 to 32. In the next four
bars, the A’s are prominent – loud and aggressive – as the much softer lower line lays out swing
eighths in concert with the rhythm section. Bouncing back and forth between these ideas with
this dialogue, he appears to be taking opposing positions. He returns to the Bb in measure 37,
using tonal semantics to connect this pitch to the previous Bb in measure 30, with the same
timbre and vibrato used in both places. Then finally connecting the Bb directly to the A, he
resolves the subdominant of F major to the mediant in three different octaves, strengthening the
line with repetition. This multiple octave resolution also brings together both octaves and settles
their debate from measures 33 to 37. Example 3.66 shows all of this, starting with the pick-ups
to the sixth measure of the final A section in chorus one.
Example 3.66 Recitation tone, tonal semantics and dialogue at the end of chorus one in “My
Funny Valentine”
172 This recalls King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, where the leading tone E eventually resolves to the F
recitation tone. (See example 3.55.)
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Example 3.66 (cont.)
Call and response and signifying on the form also occur in this passage as the musicians
move toward a double-time feel and build-up to the next chorus. After Davis begins his
fortissimo statement in measure 30, Hancock responds with a flurry of dissonant chords.
Meanwhile, Williams plays eighth-note triplet rhythms on his cymbals, seemingly calling for the
time change. Davis takes up the call with a high F exclamation and two swing eighth notes in a
double-time feel in measure 33, as Carter then joins him by playing a broken two feel in the new
time. Starting in measure 37, with the double-time feel established, Hancock becomes busier
and more insistent in his comping while Carter lays down a triplet riff that builds tension. Davis,
however, is in the middle of his downward sweeping, multi-octave Bb to A resolutions discussed
earlier. So while he is wrapping up his resolution tone gestures and articulating the end of the
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melody chorus, the piano and bass are already building tension to push into the next chorus.
This apart playing, signifying on the form and where the points of tension and release should be,
is powerful and energizes the audience. They begin to clap effusively in the middle of the apart
playing, in measure 39. In the next bar, Davis rejoins the rhythm section by jumping in front of
the momentum with a primarily chromatic line that ends in a break just before beat four.
Hancock, Carter, and Williams put the punctuation on the end of the gesture hitting the upbeat of
four and the downbeat of the next chorus in unison to articulate the beginning of the next chorus.
The audience continues to applaud for three measures into the new chorus. No additional
confirmation is needed that this is a powerful statement with the call and response and signifying
by all four musicians. Rhetorical analysis is uniquely able identify the communicative devices
used by the musicians in a passage like this and link them directly to the audience’s experience
of the music. Example 3.67 shows this section of music again, this time with the call and
response with the rhythm section and signifying on the form highlighted.
Example 3.67 Call and response and signifying on the form at the end of chorus one in “My
Funny Valentine”
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Example 3.67 (cont.)
The first A section in chorus two (16 bars, as notated in the new double-time) has
fascinating rhetorical juxtapositions as Davis continually shows different sides of his musical
personality. In the first bar of the new chorus Davis gives an uncontrolled high register
exclamation, as if releasing the tension of the build into the chorus. He immediately follows this,
though, with precise placement of the notes in the next two measures – possibly signifying on the
big band tradition by playing like a lead player in a shout chorus. Adding to this effect in the
second and fourth bars is Hancock’s” trumpet-style” piano, which, with its upper-register octave
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doublings, echoes Davis’s punchy trumpet figures.173 Both Davis’s line and Hancock’s
responses are indicated in example 3.68.
Example 3.68 “Shout chorus” style call and response at the beginning of the second chorus of
“My Funny Valentine”
Immediately following this phrase is a complete contrast. Without a rhetorical
perspective, this phrase is enigmatic, or it could be seen it as a self-indulgent mistake, as is Gary
Giddins’ view. In a discussion of Davis’s increasing musical “narcissism,” Giddins is surely
referring to this phrase when he writes, “By the time of ‘My Funny Valentine,’ which has one of
the most notorious fluffs ever released, one got the feeling that his every crackle and splutter was
to be embraced as evidence of his spontaneous soul.”174 Walser, though, sees this differently.
While he recognizes the chaos and indistinct pitches of the first part of the phrase, he focuses on
the rhetorical clarity of the gesture. He sees the wild, uncontrolled ascent of measures 45 and 46
contrasting the simple, bluesy, and controlled descent of the next bars. He describes in technical
detail what Davis is doing on the ascent, keeping his embouchure “very loose and [using] breath
173 “Trumpet-style piano” describes the octave doubling of the melody notes in the pianist’s right hand. This
technique is associated with Earl Hines, who recorded a series of important duets with trumpeter Louis Armstrong in the 1920’s. Perhaps this is Hancock’s unconscious signifying on this history?
174 Gary Giddins, “Miles Wiles,” in A Miles Davis Reader, edited by Bill Kirchner (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), 222.
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accents on the higher notes to shape the line.”175 Assuming that Walser is correct in his
assessment of what Davis is doing with his embouchure, it is hard to imagine that Davis could
not have played these notes with a more traditionally “correct” technique if his primary concern
was accuracy and clarity of the notes. Rather, it appears that the accuracy and clarity he is after
is rhetorical. As Walser says, “Davis is less interested in articulating pitches than in signifyin’;
the two halves of this phrase are in dialogue, the messy scramble upward answered by the casual,
simple return.”176 The ascent and antithetical descent in this phrase is indicated in Example 3.69.
Example 3.69 Disorder and antithesis in “My Funny Valentine”
This example also contains a rhetorical device in measures 45 and 46 that describes the
chaotic gesture just discussed: disorder. Scott Kaiser puts this rhetorical device in perspective
when he says, “Depicting disorder is a great challenge to an artist in any medium. Whether it be
175 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 357. 176 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 357.
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the cubism of Picasso’s Guernica, the harmonic dissonance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the
shifting forms of Gehry’s Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, or the madness of the Marx Brothers
in A Night at the Opera, beneath the chaos on the surface, the accomplished artist knows he must
impose a strict structure.” He also notes that “Shakespeare’s plays are loaded with organized
chaos, with planned anarchy, where one or more verbal elements are deliberately disjointed – out
of sequence, out of place, illogical, ambiguous, contradictory.”177
The implication here is that disorder gains meaning from its contrast to the surrounding
order. This is what we see in example 3.69. In fact, perhaps to be sure the listener understands
his point, Davis follows this phrase with another like it. The earlier six-measure gesture is
contracted into three measures, but the same tonal indistinction in an ambiguous ascending line
is again contrasted by a simple, well-defined, and tonally inflected descent. This phrase, in fact,
ends more definitively than the earlier one, creating a phrase period from measures 45 to 53 to
give balance and closure to this section. As further evidence of Davis’s intention to link this
phrase to the prior one, he uses tonal semantics to connect the phrases, with the same tonal color
and pitch falls occurring at the end of each passage. This second parallel phrase is found in
example 3.70.
177 Kaiser, Shakespeare’s Wordcraft, 265.
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Example 3.70 A parallel phrase structure to the previous one (see example 3.69) in “My Funny
Valentine”
Once again Walser provides good insight into Davis’s music, addressing why his
rhetorical strategies succeed with the listener: “Davis does not present his audiences with a
product, polished and inviting admiration. We hear instead a dramatic process of creation from
Davis as from few others. As we listen, we can experience these feelings of playfulness,
complexity, struggle, and competence as our own.”178 Even more artistically rewarding for the
audience is hearing Davis’s portrayal of struggle followed by his artful resolution of that
struggle.
To close out the first A section Davis allows the rhythm section nearly three bars by
themselves, which they use to signify on the time. In slightly different places in these bars, the
members of the rhythm section play figures that imply another time change is being
contemplated. The important point here is that a rhetorical analysis can address not just what is
played, but also what an artist decides not to play. When Davis ends his previous idea on the
iiø7 chord in measure 53 and chooses not to play on the harmonically tense push into the
dominant chord he is expressing the ultimate confidence in his bandmates, and in nommo, that
they will continue to construct and carry the message without him. Again, jazz as dialogue, not
178 Walser, “Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis,” 358.
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monologue. Whereas other forms of improvisation analysis concentrate mainly on a solo ist’s
role in terms of what is played, rhetorical analysis provides a construct for examining the
soloist’s decision not to play. Example 3.71 shows where Davis lays out and the rhythm section
takes over the dialogue until his re-entrance.
Example 3.71 Davis laying out while the rhythm section continues the dialogue in “My Funny
Valentine”
And when Davis does re-enter, he comes in with simple pick-ups to the next section that
firmly reinforce the existing, strongly swinging beat, signifying on the time indirection of the
rhythm section in the previous bars. His understated approach here recalls the opening melody
statement in the first chorus. The ample space he leaves between ideas allows the straight-ahead
swing of the rhythm section to temporarily come to the fore and provide a contrast to his use of
the blues language, with its blue notes, tonal inflections and riff-like phrases. The ideas build,
eventually becoming longer, higher and louder, until the climax is reached in measures 64 to 66.
This process is shown in example 3.72.
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Example 3.72 Building from understatement to climax in “My Funny Valentine”
He immediately follows this with yet another phrase with indistinct pitch and indirection
in the rhythms, but again with strong rhetorical content, this time letting the tone quality convey
the message. The notes and slides between them in measures 67 and 69 are harsh and unrefined.
So, too are measures 70 and 71, his blatty sound rearticulating the Bb phrase ending in a lower
octave, recalling the triple octave resolution in measures 37 to 39 (see example 3.66). This
phrase is shown in example 3.73.
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Example 3.73 Tonal semantics in “My Funny Valentine”
Phrases like this, and the ones in measures 45 to 50 (example 3.69) and 51 to 53
(example 3.70), prove the value of rhetorical analysis, providing insight into the music where
other forms of analysis fall short. These phrases offer up little to the analyst who searches for
the essence of the music and the artist’s intent in harmonic acumen, brilliant voice-leading,
motivic development, or use of formulaic vocabulary. With rhetorical analysis, however, the
essence and artistic intent can be seen, or rather heard, in the tonal semantics that connect two
phrases. Or, as revealed in the artistic expression and affect in this last phrase, it is even the
tonal semantics themselves that are at the heart of the phrase. Chick Corea recognizes all of this
in Davis’s playing when he says, “Miles solos are really interesting to look at on music paper,
because there’s nothing to them. On a Trane [John Coltrane] or Charlie Parker solo, you can
string the notes out and see all these phrases and harmonic ideas, patterns, all kinds of things.
Miles doesn’t use patterns. He doesn’t string notes out. It’s weird. Without the expression, and
without the feeling he put in it, there’s nothing there.”179
In direct contrast to this decidedly un-pretty phrase, the rhythm section changes to a
simple straight-eighth afro-Cuban groove in the bridge and Davis responds with his most lyrical
playing in the entire solo. He begins very simply, with a soft sound and moderate vibrato. The
179 Howard Mandel, “Sketches of Miles,” Down Beat, December, 1991, 18-20.
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earnest quality of these opening measures, however, masks the signifying that he is doing on the
melody. Similar to his earlier use of the b7 of F major to defeat the leading tone/tonic
relationship in the bridge of the first chorus (see example 3.64), he avoids the melody F in
measure 74 and replaces it with the b7. He then corrects himself, admitting to the ruse, and
rephrases the melody to land on the “right” note in bar 76. The rhythm section has a hand in all
of this, of course, since they are signifying on the key with the alternation between major and
minor in this vamp. Again, this is similar to how they signified on the bridge of the first chorus
with the F MA7 and Eb13 vamp. This simple, opening phrase of the bridge is shown in example
3.74.
Example 3.74 Lyrical playing and signifying in the bridge of chorus two in “My Funny
Valentine”
After this interesting beginning to the bridge, Davis attempts to move into the upper
register in measure 77, but he fracks a number of notes. Unlike the earlier examples where the
unconventional sound envelopes were either intentional or at least incorporated into a redirection
of the phrase, this truly feels like a mistake that he doesn’t try to save, probably knowing that to
try to assimilate this misstep into his phrase would be inconsistent with his message here.
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Rather, when he regains his footing, he simply resumes the melodicism of the first bars of the
bridge. This mistake and recovery are shown in example 3.75.
Example 3.75 Playing through a mistake in “My Funny Valentine”
After the end of this passage, Davis successfully negotiates a foray into the upper
register. The actual notes in this “wordy” and rhapsodic phrase seem to be less important than
the sweeping rise and fall of the line, although the strong outline of BbMA7 in the last three bars,
delineated by transposed repetition, articulates the end of the bridge nicely to help set up the final
A section. Example 3.76 show this last phrase of the bridge.
Example 3.76 A rhapsodic gesture at the end of the bridge in the second chorus of “My Funny
Valentine”
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Example 3.76 (cont.)
Towards the end of Davis’s sustained note in 87, Hancock comes in with an ascending A
auxiliary diminished scale in parallel minor thirds in contrary motion to respond to Davis’s line.
This sets in motion a conversation between the two over the next eight bars. In the middle of this
dialogue, Davis plays unexpectedly louder notes in measures 90 and 94. These outbursts signify
on his generally soft dynamic and set up the end to this call and response passage with a forte
dynamic in measure 96 that reestablishes his leadership. This is shown in example 3.77.
Example 3.77 Call and response between trumpet and piano in “My Funny Valentine” (piano
notated in the key of Bb along with trumpet)
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Example 3.77 (cont.)
After Davis firmly reasserts himself in measures 96 and 97, he comes to the high point in
his solo, accompanied by a return to the melody in measures 98 and 99. He climbs into his
extreme upper register for a fortissimo statement and then falls to the bottom of his range for
another hyperbolic phrase. This phrase also contains climax, which is found in other places
where he is climbing up in register. This use of tessitura is a more extreme version of what he
did in measures five through seven (see example 3.61), and also recalls his use of the upper
register and loud dynamics in bars 33 and 41 (see examples 3.66 and 3.68). When he reaches the
last and lowest note of the phrase in measure 105, Carter and Williams confirm Davis’s ending
gesture by moving to a broken “two” feel to give a sense of finality to the message. The phrase is
shown in example 3.78.
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Example 3.78 A final hyperbolic gesture with extremes of tessitura and dynamics in “My Funny
Valentine”
After this ending idea, Davis goes on to play through the eight-bar transition to the next
chorus and even a few bars into this new chorus with three additional gestures. Each of these
additional phrases is distinctly different but conceptually related to previous phrases, and so the
effect is one of an epilogue to the story, with the plot having already been resolved by measure
105 and his message delivered.
With the first four artists in this study, significant attention has been given to the
treatment of individual motives in order to understand each musician’s rhetorical style. With
Miles Davis, though, his rhetorical and artistic success is less tied-up in the motivic development
of his ideas than in how he delivers the message (the actio) and the dialogue that he establishes
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with the tune, the other musicians, and even between his own ideas. So while rhetorical analysis
has much to say regarding the motivic content in improvisation, it is not dependent on it for use
as an analytical tool. Nor is it dependent on tonality or a tonally-based harmonic or formal
structure, as will be seen in the final subject of this study, Steve Lacy’s solo on “Longing.”
Steve Lacy’s Soprano Saxophone Solo on “Longing,” March 28 or 29, 1996
Steve Lacy recorded this song with his long-standing trio of bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel
and drummer John Betsch. This Lacy composition uses set theory as the basis for its structure in
both the melody and improvisation sections of the tune. Both Lacy and Avenel adhere to these
pitch sets throughout the performance, with a few rhetorically significant deviations. In order to
fully appreciate the rhetoric of this performance, knowledge of the set used in the composition is
necessary.180
The opening melody of the tune is 44 measures long, divided into four sections by
motivic content: abcb. Each of these motives, as well as two separate bass motives, are drawn
from the master pitch set 012378. As first constructed, each of the motives is a subset of the
entire set. The complete set is not used until the final b section of the melody statement, when it
occurs in the bass part. After the exposition of the melody, the saxophone solo also uses the
entire set. Example 3.79 shows this master set in concert key.
180 A set is a collection of pitch classes – notes without regard for octave placement – from which both
melodic and harmonic pitch content can be drawn. The set is expressed in numbers, which are the number of half-steps between the first note in the set and each pitch, placed in ascending order. The first note in the set is chosen to give the set the smallest interval between the first and last notes of the set. This ordering is referred to as the “normal order” of the set. Should there be two possible first note choices, the correct first note choice is the one that puts the set in the most compact interval arrangement, with the smallest total number of half-steps between the first note and each succeeding note.
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Example 3.79 The normal order of the master pitch set 012378 used throughout “Longing”
The original two bass patterns that Avenel plays throughout the melody are drawn from
this set. Neither pattern is exclusively associated with any of the melody motives; the patterns
are used interchangeably throughout the melody statement. Both patterns are also used during
the saxophone solo, where they are subjected to variation, especially rhythmic variation, as well
as the occasional interpolation of non-set notes into the figures. Examples 3.80 and 3.81 show
the two bass patterns and their connection to the complete pitch set. Parentheses indicate notes
from the complete set not used in the bass patterns.
Example 3.80 Bass pattern one from measures five and six and associated notes from the
complete pitch set in “Longing”
Example 3.81 Bass pattern two from measures 13 and 14 and associated notes from the
complete pitch set in “Longing”
Just as the initial bass patterns do not use the entire pitch set, none of the three melody
motives played by Lacy use the complete set. Examples 3.82, 3.83, and 3.84 show the three
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motives and the associated notes from the entire set, again with the unused notes in parentheses.
Each motive is shown is concert key to facilitate comparison between the saxophonist’s use of
the set and the bassist’s. Motives b and c use transposed versions of the master pitch set, but the
examples show the notes transposed back to the prime version of the set (p0), again to facilitate
comparison with the prior examples.181
Example 3.82 Melody motive a from measure one along with the corresponding notes from the
complete pitch set in “Longing” (concert key)
Example 3.83 Melody motive b from measures seven and eight (transposed to p0) along with
corresponding notes from the complete pitch set in “Longing” (concert key)
Example 3.84 Melody motive c from measures 14 and 15 (transposed to p0) along with
corresponding notes from the complete pitch set in “Longing” (concert key)
181 The original pitches of a set (Eb, E, F, F#, Bb, and B, in this case) are referred to as the prime form of the
set (p0). Set transpositions are labeled based on the number of half steps the set is above the prime form. p2, for example, includes F, F#, G, G#, C, and C#, which is how motive b is initially used. In the melody statement, motive b uses the p2, p5, and p7 transpositions of the 012378 set; motive c uses the p5, p7, and p9 transpositions of the set and the first two notes of the p11 transposition.
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In the final b section of the melody exposition, the bass pattern finally incorporates all six
notes of the complete pitch set for the first time. The same note that had been missing from both
patterns, D#, is found in five measures, each time occurring as a double stop above the B.
Example 3.85 shows Avenel playing the double stop first in pattern two and then in pattern one,
beginning with a pick-up note to measure 36 of the melody section.
Example 3.85 Bass patterns two and one incorporating a D#, articulating the complete 012378
pitch set in “Longing”
After the melody statement, Lacy uses the p0 form of the set exclusively until measure 22
of his solo. Before examining how he uses this set, it is instructive to know what intervals
naturally occur most frequently within it. The interval structure of the set favors interval classes
one, five and six, as outlined in table 3.1.182
182 The six interval classes contained in the table break down the set into the six possible intervals (each
grouped with its inversion) of greater than a unison and less than an octave. The third column from the left shows how many times each interval class naturally occurs between any two pitches in the set. For additional information on interval vector analysis, see Stefan Kostka, Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-Century Music, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999), 186-88.
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Table 3.1 Interval Class analysis of the 012378 pitch set as used in “Longing”
Interval
Class
Intervals Number of
Times Interval
Class is Found
in 012378 Set
Number of Each
Interval used
Melodically in Lacy’s
Solo (the larger
inversion is after the
slash)
Number of Each Interval
used in the Melodic
Motives (a, b, or c) or
Bass Patterns (1 or 2) (the
larger inversion is after
the slash)
1 mi2/MA7 4 76/0 5/0
2 MA2/ mi7 2 22/0 2/0
3 mi3/MA6 1 23/0 0/0
4 MA3/mi6 2 22/4 0/0
5 P4/P5 4 36/10 10/3
6 A4/d5 2 11 0
As the third column from the left indicates, there are two naturally occurring interval
classes favored in the pitch set: the minor second/major seventh and the perfect fourth/perfect
fifth. It should not be surprising, then, especially among the smaller of the inversion pairs (for
example, minor second vs. major seventh), that these intervals are used most frequently in the
solo. This interval class analysis helps bring to light the intervallic “language” Lacy is working
with in both the composition and improvisation sections of this performance. The language is
dominated by the minor second, especially in the solo, and the perfect fourth, particularly in the
melody’s motives.
Before discussing Lacy’s solo in depth, a few of his own words can clarify his thoughts
on using structural limits such as the pitch set found in this composition and his use of intervallic
motives. In a number of places in Steve Lacy: Conversations, a collection of interviews with
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Lacy, he discusses the inter-relationships between composition, improvisation, structural limits,
and freedom. In Lacy’s words:
I adore limits, as did [the poet] Brion [Gysin]. Paul Klee, Igor Stravinsky, and
Thelonious Monk also loved constraints and voluntary limits. I explain in my book
Findings how to use two notes: there are only two notes left in the universe, what to do?
Working with these two notes seems boring, but with tenacity one discovers an incredible
universe where only the imagination and fatigue limit the infinite. Many cultures in the
world happily use but five notes.183
Lacy also discusses his exploration with the minor second, playing back and forth from B to C
during a practice session:
Of course it went through the various stages of boredom, frustration, puzzlement, and it
started to get interesting because my perceptions started changing. So I stayed on those two
notes, that little interval, for a long, long time, I don’t know how many hours, until I started
to hallucinate, to the point where that little interval had become enormous. And I had
become very small. There I was, this little being in a huge room, and the room was a minor
second. And it was uncanny, extraordinary, and I almost flipped because it was real, it was
surreal, it was unreal, but it was for real. I found that I could hear so many things within
that little interval, it had completely changed its aspects. When I came out of that room and
went back to the rest of the horn, everything had changed, there was no relationship that was
as previous to that experience of having gone into that little interval.184
In “Longing,” a minor second interval occurs in the first measure of the composition as
part of motive a. This half-step occurs so frequently, especially between G sharp and G natural,
that it is labeled as motive a’. (It is circled in each occurrence throughout the musical examples.)
The first occurrences of motives a and a’ occur in measure one and are shown in example 3.86,
transposed for Bb soprano saxophone.
183 Steve Lacy, “Scratching the Seventies,” interview by Étienne Brunet, in Steve Lacy: Conversations, edited
by Jason Weiss (Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 2006), 173. Originally published in Steve Lacy, liner notes, Scratching the Seventies/Dreams, Steve Lacy, Saravah SHL 2082, 1997, compact disc.
184 Steve Lacy, “Forget Paris,” interview by John Corbett, in Steve Lacy: Conversations, edited by Jason Weiss (Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 2006), 191-92. Originally published in Downbeat (February 1997).
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Example 3.86 Motive a and its subset a’, in the melody of “Longing”
Motive a’ is frequently used as an ending idea, creating ending repeat
relationships between phrases throughout the piece, as if Lacy keeps coming back to this idea as
the ultimate answer to the questions he poses. The first use of a’ in this context occurs near the
beginning of the solo in measures 44 and 46. To make the connection even more apparent, Lacy
plays the G, F, Ab, and G figure in both measures with the same soft, cloaked sound, almost as if
he is making an aside. In measure 45, Lacy’s notes sound like a pick-up to a new idea. Betsch
responds to this by strongly articulating the downbeat of measure 46, but then Lacy immediately
and deceptively rearticulates his ending idea. This is shown in example 3.87.
Example 3.87 Motive a’ used as an ending repeat figure near the beginning of the solo in
“Longing”
In the opening of the solo Lacy sets another device in motion with a compound melody
dialogue between the two portions of the pitch set that are separated by a minor third interval: he
places the C and Db on the bottom and the F, Gb, G, and Ab pitches on top. While this
compound line begins to take shape starting with the second note of measure 43, it becomes
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well-defined beginning in measure 47. Dividing the set as he does allows him to explore the
minor second idea in a new way; as of measure 47, except for the first two notes of the top line,
each line moves chromatically from note-to-note. This chromatic motion, along with the skips
between melody lines and the amorphous rhythms, create a decided aura of uncertainty, as Lacy
appears to debate the merits of the two separate lines. The projection of the doubt comes to
dominate the line starting in measure 47, as indicated in example 3.88.
Example 3.88 Doubt expressed in the dialogue between compound melody lines in “Longing”
As discussed earlier in the Jim Hall analysis, doubt is only effective as a rhetorical device
when it is intentional, not actual. Starting at the end of measure 50, Lacy shows us that this
doubt is rhetorical when he provides a decisive answer. This answer comes in two parts. His
first statement uses concrete rhythms to drive his point home with multiple groups of repeated
notes. Each note is delivered deliberately, with very specific articulations, as if he were speaking
slowly and emphatically to be sure the audience follows his argument. In this first statement
Lacy like a speaker outlining his reasoning for the conclusion that follows. This conclusion is
found in the second statement in measures 53 and 54 where he plays bass pattern one and then
segues into a’, using it as an ending idea again. These measures reaffirm the message of the bass
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as well as providing another ending repeat to confirm for the listener that motive a’ is the
ultimate conclusion.185 Example 3.89 shows resolution of the doubt in these two statements.
Example 3.89 Doubt is resolved in a definitive argument, followed by bass pattern one and a’ in
“Longing”
Continuing to focus on motive a’, Lacy employs a number of repetition devices and
expansion to integrate the idea into longer gestures. For example, after ending his last phrase
with a’, he uses connective repetition to begin his next phrase in measure 55 with the motive,
rephrasing the idea by replacing the G with a Gb. He then expands this gesture in the next bar,
playing the motive in two different octaves, before once again using it as an ending with the type
of figuration and timbre found earlier in measures 44 through 46 (see example 3.87). Example
3.90 shows this expanded use of a’.
185 This type of concluding idea used throughout the solo and functioning as both a thematic and structural
device is also found in a number of the earlier solos in this study by Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, and most closely related to its use here, the solo by Jim Hall (the b motive).
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Example 3.90 Various repetition types and expansion of a’ in “Longing”
After working extensively with motive a' in the first third of the solo, Lacy temporarily
moves away from it in the next few phrases. From measures 58 to 60 he uses isocolon, playing a
pair of five-beat trills with a hyperbolic delivery. He combines the trills with breath accents and
a loose embouchure on the accents to make the measures more about the sound of the notes than
the pitches themselves. These trills are shown in example 3.91.
Example 3.91 Isocolon, hyperbole, and tonal semantics in a pair of trills in “Longing”
With each of these unusual five-beat trills beginning on an upbeat and subjected to a
rhythmically unpredictable set of breath accents, Lacy is introducing metric uncertainty into the
phrase. Avenel and Betsch respond to this by breaking up the time in measures 61 and 62 with
12/8 rhythms. When they temporarily leave their time-keeping role behind, Lacy signifies on
this by laying down time with his straight eighths in a simple and repetitive Ab to F idea in bar
62. This riff-like pendular third motion, so common in African American call and response,
seems to lead Lacy to speak the language of the blues, which he is clearly doing in measure 64.
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In the context of measures 60 through 64, the B and Bb in bar 64 are the flat-five and fourth
scale degrees of the F blues scale. These notes also draw attention to themselves because they
are the first two notes in the solo not found in the p0 set and so Lacy is also signifying on this
non-tonal piece with a tonal concept. Example 3.92 shows Lacy interacting with the bass and
drums and playing this blues material. (The notes that are not found in p0 are indicated with
rectangles, as in all the musical examples.)
Example 3.92 Dialogue, call and response, and signifying in “Longing”
Covering the same material as the prior two examples, the next example shows the bass
and saxophone parts in concert key and the drum rhythm indicated between measures 60 and 62.
The rhythm that Avenel plays both before and after measures 61 and 62 in the example are what
he has been playing almost exclusively for the entire song to this point; so the bassist’s change in
61 and 62 are noteworthy. He responds to Lacy in these measures by changing his rhythm
extensively while skillfully keeping the outline of bass pattern one in both bars. Avenel also
plays his first two non-pitch set notes in measure 62, just two bars before Lacy responds with his
own deviations from the set. The trio is pushing the rhythmic and pitch boundaries of Longing’s
structure and doing it together, in keeping with the principle of nommo. The trio’s interaction in
measures 61 and 62 is shown in the larger context of the passage in example 3.93.
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Example 3.93 Call and response between saxophone and rhythm section as rhythmic and pitch
changes are introduced in “Longing”
Finally, to conclude this section of the solo, after the blues references, Lacy returns to his
ending a’ idea, playing it twice using a delayed repetition device. Here, though, he adds one
more little flourish – a snippet of the first trill from measure 58 returns to frame this whole
section with the trill figure. This is shown in example 3.94.
Example 3.94 Delayed and frame repetition to end a section of “Longing”
Throughout these analyses the rhetorical figures have been highlighted individually and
in small groups to make the rhetorical points clear. But part of the unique strength of rhetorical
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analysis is the way in which the intricacies of the music are revealed through the interaction of
the devices. To this end, this passage between measures 58 and 66 is a good one to see how the
use of a large number of devices, working in combination, translates into a rhetorically powerful
passage. Devices from five of the six rhetorical categories are found in this section – repetition;
balance, symmetry, order and contrast; amplification; dialogue, and signifying and indirection.
These measures are shown one final time with all of the rhetorical figures indicated in example
3.95. Most of the figures from this passage have been discussed in the previous examples; the
only new ones are additional repetition devices. Even though not always shown, figures of
repetition such as immediate, transposed, and rephrased repetition are ubiquitous in the solos in
this study, supporting the other devices and helping the listener to process and retain the musical
ideas. Note how the repetition devices (shown above the music) overlap and amplify the effect
of the devices from the other categories (shown below the music).
Example 3.95 Figures of repetition working in conjunction with devices from four other
categories in “Longing”
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Example 3.95 (cont.)
After opening the door to using non-set notes in the previous section, Avenel uses just
one more non-set note in the rest of Lacy’s solo. Lacy, on the other hand, uses fourteen more,
with eleven of them occurring in a short passage from measures 69 to 72. Whereas the prior use
of notes outside of p0 did not dramatically disrupt the sound of the set, the A and Eb in measure
69 strike the ear as falling outside the established harmonic structure, as do the non-set notes in
the next bar. To the listener, this is a different message; Lacy has changed his tune, so to speak.
The A and Eb in measure 69 fall on the first and third notes of a triplet figure that starts
on beat two. A tritone skip down to an immediate repetition of this on beat three reinforces the
figure. This places the tritone in a place of prominence in this measure. Adding the intervening
G between the A and Eb creates a 046 pitch set identity which is quite strong, but still dominated
by the non-p0 tritone sound. Then Lacy enumerates the qualities of this gesture. Beginning in
measure 70, he turns it into a six-beat compound melody dialogue with clear top and bottom
voices. He also transposes the A, G, Eb figure twice and rephrases it by changing the major
second interval to a minor second. The tritone identity remains strong because the interval is still
outlined between the first and third notes, and now the minor second seems to be linked to the a’
motive. In the following bar, the gesture loses the tritone outline, but the minor second motive is
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brought out, especially when it ends with its most common Ab-G occurrence. This movement
away from the original pitch set, dominated by the tritone gesture, and the return to motive a’ are
shown in example 3.96.
Example 3.96 The farthest deviation from p0 in “Longing”
While the sound of this passage clearly indicates that Lacy is deviating from the pitches
of p0, there are elements of the set structure that persist throughout the tritone gesture. In
measure 69, the Eb, G, and A interval combination (the 046 identity), is a transposed subset of
the p0 (012378) set. Likewise, in the next bar, the F, Gb, B and the Eb, E, and A interval
combinations (016 identities) are also transposed subsets of p0 and occur in three different places
in p0. Simply stated, although Lacy plays pitches not in the original p0 set, the interval
combinations are drawn from the set.186
After this exploration of non-p0 notes, Lacy’s next four bars return to p0. In fact, he also
returns to the original pitches of motive a’ numerous times, echoing his use of this idea in
measures 44 to 46 by returning to the same register, dynamic, and timbre found in the earlier
passage (see example 3.87). Especially in measures 75 and 76, the way he colors the notes, his
186 Another way of saying this is that while some of the pitch classes fall outside the prime form of 012378,
they are found in transpositions of the set. It is unlikely that Lacy was thinking consciously about the transpositions, per se; rather, he was probably playing intuitively, following his ear according to his deep internalization of the interval relationships in the set.
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laid-back time feel, and the shape of the last six beats of the line are unmistakably linked to
measures 44 and 45. So not only is Lacy creating an end repetition with motive a’, but he brings
back a number of musical elements from the early bars of the solo. These measures indicate the
end of the solo is at hand and are shown in example 3.97.
Example 3.97 Ending repeats of motive a’ and tonal semantics create a link to measures 44 to 46
in “Longing”
At this point it appears Lacy might end the solo, but he does not. Possibly because these
ending repeats occur so soon after the tension of the non-set notes Lacy continues for another 10
measures. It also gives him the opportunity to explore p0 with a different language. This final
section amounts to a coda, or maybe an epilogue to the story. In the first half of the coda, Lacy
is still exploring p0 and motive a’, even bringing back the 016 identity in measures 78 and 79
(see bar 70 in example 3.96). Here, though, he creates a signifying dialogue between the
previous “straight” presentation of the material and the avant-garde dialect he is now using. He
begins with an understated and eerie whisper of a sound, almost like a whistle tone on a flute,
played very softly using overtones. In the third measure of this, in bar 80, he suddenly plays a
fortissimo multiphonic exclamation that seems to come out of nowhere and follows this with two
more multiphonics into measures 81 and 82. This is shown in example 3.98.
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Example 3.98 Avant-garde language in the coda of Lacy’s solo in “Longing”
After the multiphonic exclamation in measures 80 and 81, Lacy gradually returns to a
more moderate dynamic and tone of voice. As he does, he switches from avant-garde language
to blues language in measure 82, recalling his first two non-set notes in measure 64 (see example
3.92), and finally back to the language of the original p0 set. He then ends the solo with a few
repeated gestures with transpositions of motive a’ embedded in them. This last portion of the
coda is shown in example 3.99.
Example 3.99 Blues language, p0 language, and a final return to motive a in “Longing”
Often associated with free jazz and the avant-garde, Lacy was already speaking in the
past tense about free jazz by the time of an interview he gave in 1971: “Free jazz, necessary in
its time, was not varied enough; that’s the reason why it ended: it gave rise to monotony. It’s up
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to the musician to bring about the changes, to arrange for something to happen; what you get by
limiting yourself is the real freedom.”187 In this coda, though, Lacy uses techniques that are
clearly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde. In a 1988 interview (although not
published until 2004), Lacy discusses how he brings these techniques into playing music that is
structured and not completely free, much as he does here in the coda: “So the stuff is there if you
want it . . . Another way to mix them up is by emphasizing certain of them and they’re very
useful as far as coloristics, certain expressive effects. They’re wonderful effects, I use them all
the time. Instead of a certain note, I’ll use the harmonic . . . and I get a certain expressive effect I
want. If you have them in your pocket you can deal with them when you need them.188
The set-based, atonal nature of “Longing” does not change the fundamental approach to
rhetorical analysis used throughout this study, nor is rhetorical analysis inconsistent with set
analysis. Without an underlying harmonic structure, tonally oriented devices such as harmonic
indirection are not found in this solo, but Lacy uses other signifying devices and a rich variety of
repetition and amplification devices to structure and effectively communicate his message. In
addition, the structure of the pitch set and the extended techniques that Lacy uses here allow him
to juxtapose additional forms of language in his use of the dialogue device. His treatment of the
pitch set, melody motives, blues gestures, and avant-garde techniques recalls Sonny Rollins’
juxtapositions of melody, blues, and bebop languages in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise.” The
analysis provided in this solo demonstrates how effectively and seamlessly a rhetorical approach
187 Steve Lacy, “Steve Lacy Speaks,” interview by Paul Gros-Claude, in Steve Lacy: Conversations, edited by
Jason Weiss (Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 2006), 45. Originally published in Jazz Magazine (February 1971).
188 Steve Lacy, “On Practicing, and Exploring the Instrument,” interview by Kirk Silsbee, in Steve Lacy: Conversations, edited by Jason Weiss, (Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 2006), 125. Originally published in Cadence (October 2004).
155
can be combined with another analytical perspective to provide additional insight into
improvisation.
156
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSIONS
This study lays out a theoretical framework and analytical process for applying the
principles and devices of rhetoric to jazz improvisation analysis. Taken from both Western and
Afrological sources, rhetorical devices have been translated into musical figures and applied to
the solos of six master improvisers. These six analyses show that a rhetorical approach to jazz
improvisation analysis offers new insights that existing forms of analysis do not provide.
As indicated in chapter two, rhetorical analysis has shared features with motivic and
thematic analysis. A number of the figures discussed here directly address the construction and
development of motives, phrases, and themes. In the case of some devices, such as retrograde, a
rhetorical and a traditional motivic analysis amounts to the same thing.189 In other situations,
rhetorical analysis provides a depth that the usual motivic analysis does not. This is the case
with the delayed repetition found in the Jim Hall analysis, where the intervening notes signify on
a repeated figure. Beyond the indication of a repeated motive, this additional type of information
is usually not incorporated into motivic analysis, and when it is, it is not discussed in a
systematic way. Other devices, such as the tonal semantics found in the Silver, Rollins, Davis,
and Lacy solos, can be used to discover additional motivic and musical relationships that are
typically omitted in motivic analysis.
One of most attractive features of rhetorical analysis is that it is complementary, even
additive, to other forms of analytical study. For example, the reader needs the pitch class
analysis presented in “Longing” to understand the basic language Steve Lacy is speaking
throughout most of the solo. But when rhetorical analysis is interwoven into the discourse, the
189 This is largely due to the absorption of a number of rhetorical devices into the teaching and practice of
Western music composition in the common practice period, as discussed in chapter two.
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reader becomes aware of how the blues and avant-garde languages interact with the pitch set,
providing a deeper comprehension and appreciation of the solo. Juxtaposing these languages
creates a dialogue with the pitch set, the structure of the composition, and even with other
musicians. In an analogous way, a good harmonic analysis of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
will reveal Sonny Rollins’ use of harmonic anticipation, generalization, and substitution. But a
rhetorical analysis views these three techniques in relation to the African American rhetorical
tradition of indirection and allows the reader to see his signifying on the harmonic form and the
bass player’s harmonic choices. This type of rhetorical view achieves the type of cultural
validity that is the goal of jazz ethnographers such as Paul Berliner and Ingrid Monson.
To this end, the most powerful and unique aspect of the model of rhetorical analysis
presented in this study is the underlying guiding principle of dialogue. As discussed in chapter
two, the Western model of rhetoric, dating back to the ancient Greeks is monologic in nature.
Many of the devices that belong to the discipline of rhetoric come from this tradition. And these
devices serve improvisers well, as they must often fashion a coherent linear message. The
ancient Egyptian and African model of rhetoric, though, is based on nommo and is more
dialogic. Here there is no one “speaker,” as everyone is a both speaker and listener. The true
message is a communal discovery. In five of the six solo analyses, as well as the Martin Luther
King speech, both notation and discussion of call and response between the soloist and the other
musicians document this. The musical examples also show that a significant use of call and
response frequently occurs near rhetorical high points, often accompanied by a number of other
rhetorical devices.
Bringing together these two traditions creates yet another form of dialogue that is
grounded in the Black experience in America, just as jazz has been. Historically, African
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Americans have attempted to find their identity both within the White hegemonic culture and
outside it. As Gary Tomlinson points out, this duality, and the attempt to keep both identities in
view, results in an ongoing dialogue that is an important aspect of signifying.190 Musically, jazz
represents this signifying duality through a Black reinterpretation of a White musical heritage.
Pre-existing material is borrowed, restated and/or reworked in a way that comments on the
material, either showing reverence or irreverence for it.191
Both Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis engage in this signifying dialogue with their
reinterpretations of American popular song standards in chapter three. In Rollins’ take of
“Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” the rhetorical analysis begins with his melody interpretation
and the way he draws his motivic material from the melody. This is a starting point from which
Schuller would be comfortable, applying his concept of thematic improvisation. Rhetorical
analysis, though, goes much farther towards a complete understanding of the solo, by examining
how Rollins is continually signifying on the composition with his motivic development,
contrasting languages (blues, melody, and bebop), various types of indirection, tonal semantics,
and even his use of recitation tone, as he “preaches” on the composition. By examining
rhetorical devices such as these in the appropriate cultural context of dialogue, indirection, and
signifying, the analysis comes much closer to providing an understanding of artistic intent and
musical message.
In the same way a rhetorical analysis of Rollins’ solo challenges existing analytical
viewpoints regarding his improvisation, it also encourages a re-examination of the styles of
Miles Davis and Lester Young. The rhetorical analysis provided in Davis’ “My Funny
Valentine” provides evidence that supports Robert Walser’s re-thinking of the technique, artistry,
190 Gary Tomlinson, “Cultural Dialogics and Jazz: A White Historian Signifies,” 73-74. 191 Floyd, “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” 271.
159
and artistic intent of Miles Davis. Rather than viewing him as a trumpeter whose technique
sometimes got in the way of his message, he is viewed here as an artist willing to take risks,
willing to sound bad in order to say things that other artists could not or would not attempt. In
the case of Lester Young, authors such as Gottlieb and Porter miss the creativity in his use of his
personal improvisation formulas such as the ones discussed here in the analysis of “Lady, Be
Good.” They discount these ideas when they are not unique to a solo or are re-used a number of
times in ways that do not support a limited definition of motivic development. Recognizing the
use of a signifying “repetition with revision” is a more ethnographically valid perspective to
adopt, especially when rhetorical analysis provides an expanded palette of rhetorical tools with
which to dissect the revisions.
Compared to other forms of analysis, rhetorical analysis also speaks more directly to an
artist’s process and success in crafting and delivering a message so that the audience can grasp it
and retain it. The indication of this study is that rhetorical devices work for the listener of music
much as they do for the listener of the spoken word, as gauged by the principles of rhetorical
communication set forth by the ancient Greeks. This similarity begins with the crafting and
structuring of the message (inventio, dispositio, and elocutio) and extends to the delivery of the
message (actio). They make the audience receptive to the message, persuade or entertain them,
and assist them in processing and remembering the message.
A brief review of Rollins’ solo on “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” highlights how these
principles are used in his improvisation, serving to aid the listener’s apprehension and retention
of Rollins’ ideas through the vehicle of the rhetorical devices he uses. The inventio is
represented by the three main motives he uses throughout the solo, while the dispositio is the
ordering of the ideas, the structural framework that he creates to present these ideas. So when
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Rollins uses the same motive to end two different phrases, he creates an ending repeat that orders
and links these ideas in the listener’s mind to make them more memorable. In the next rhetorical
stage, the elocutio, these ideas are translated into the actual selection of notes. Here, when
Rollins plays a motive three times in a row but each is rephrased with a different language
(melody, blues, and bebop), he signifies on both the idea and the languages and engages the
imagination of the listener. The listener’s mind is stimulated by the new presentations and
possibilities, yet at the same time the repetition reinforces the main points of the message.
Finally, when Rollins returns to each of his motives at the very end the solo, he uses a unique
timbre and pitch bends to articulate them. These tonal semantics are part of the actio that
indelibly connects the ideas to each other and to the earlier uses throughout the solo.
All six of these artists are successful in getting their musical point across in a memorable
way to the listener. Drawing on these solos as a sample, additional conclusions can be made
regarding the artists’ use of rhetorical devices. First, there is a good variety of devices used by
each of the musicians. Except for Steve Lacy, who does not use any figures of silence and
omission and only one figure of balance, symmetry, order, and contrast in his relatively shorter
solo, the other artists each use figures from all six categories.192 A few interesting points
regarding individual artists are worth making. The two artists best known as composers –
Horace Silver and Jim Hall – use twice as many different figures of balance, symmetry, order,
and contrast as do any of the other artists. Also, Sonny Rollins uses 32 different figures, five
more than the next closest artist, Jim Hall, and nearly twice as many as Steve Lacy. While one
192 The six categories are repetition; balance, symmetry, order, and contrast; amplification; silence and
omission; dialogue; and signifying and indirection. The five figures that fall under the miscellaneous category (circumlocution, cliché, correction, doubt, and disorder) are not included in this summary.
161
certainly would need to account for the length of solos, this type of information can be used in a
comparative analysis of individual musicians’ styles or even genres of jazz.
Second, by category, figures of repetition account for the largest number of rhetorical
occurrences in each solo. This is not surprising, given the frequent use of repetition in
organizing and remembering information. Further, it is a preferred strategy of communicating
information in oral-based cultures such as those found in Africa prior to slavery;193 and is an oral
and musical retention of African culture brought to America by African slaves.
Third, the use of multiple figures, taken from different categories, translates into clearer,
more distinct, and more powerful musical gestures. There is an additive power from combining
devices due to the appeal to the listener’s intellect and emotions in a number of ways and on
different cognitive levels.
Fourth, and related to the prior point, the rhetorical peaks in each solo usually employ the
largest number of devices in combination, and always use one or more figures of repetition.
When used in conjunction with devices from other categories, figures of repetition increase the
impact of these other devices. In nearly every instance they are also a place where nommo
comes into play: the other musicians (and the audience in Miles Davis’ live recording) are
intimately involved in a call and response dialogue with the soloist. These high points are not
necessarily the fastest, highest or loudest passages in the solo; they occur where the message
becomes clear to the listener in a powerful and engaging way.
193 Walter J. Ong writes about the characteristics of oral-based cultures, one of which is the development of
thought patterns and communication styles based on redundancy and what rhetoricians refer to as copia – artful fluency and loquaciousness. See Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, (New York: Methuen, 1982), 39-41.
162
Finally, a few words about the significance and potential impact of this study. It builds
upon and brings together musical and rhetorical scholarship from both Western and Africological
perspectives to create a systematic rhetorical approach to the analysis of jazz improvisation.
Using rhetorical figures to analyze how an improvised “message” is crafted and persuasively
communicated to the intended audience is unique in jazz scholarship. This significance and
impact broadly falls into four areas:
1) Jazz Analysis Study. The rhetorical framework and analytical method used here adds to
the existing literature and practice of jazz analysis. The techniques used in this study can
easily be incorporated into existing jazz analysis study. Whether individually or in a
classroom situation, any or all of the figures and approaches discussed here can be used
stand-alone or alongside other forms of analysis in the attempt to form a more complete
understanding of the music.
2) Relevance for Teaching Jazz Improvisation. The musical figures outlined here can be
incorporated into the teaching and learning of improvisation. While they can be of
benefit to students at all levels, for students new to jazz, they offer a “way in” to begin
improvising. Using simple motives and rhetorical figures, new students have a concrete
approach that allows them to develop and communicate a small amount of musical
material effectively and coherently. For more advanced students, devices such as end
repetition and frame repetition can be explored as structural devices that give coherence
and meaning to the improvisation by articulating larger formal structures. In addition,
African American rhetorical devices such as signifying and indirection provide a
culturally based framework within which to understand and conceptualize the practice of
advanced melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic techniques.
163
3) Jazz Composition Applications. Just as they were incorporated into Baroque music
study, the rhetorical figures presented here can be incorporated into jazz compositional
techniques and study. The same type of techniques and approaches just mentioned as
appropriate for learning improvisation can be used here, as well.
4) Potential for Publishing and Future Scholarship. This new approach to the study and
performance of jazz improvisation has great potential for further study by others and
academic publishing. Any of the areas discussed in (1) through (3) are excellent
candidates for additional scholarship. Also, elements of jazz history or individual
musicians’ styles are areas ripe for further investigation in the realm of musical rhetoric.
The rhetorical analysis presented here is sufficiently broad and flexible enough to be used
in comparative analysis between styles of jazz, different artists, or even different periods
within an artist’s career.
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171
APPENDIX A: CHART OF MUSICAL-RHETORICAL FIGURES
(Note: in the rightmost column, graphic depictions of some of the rhetorical figures are
provided. Capital letters represent the rhetorical figure, with dotted lines representing the
remainder of the phrase. Small letters represent individual notes, and slash markings indicate a
division between phrases. In the immediate repetition row, for example, the “XX” refers to a
group of notes or a motive that is repeated immediately, either at the beginning, end, or in the
middle of the phrase, respectively.)
Figures of Repetition
“Repetition is a major rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or emotional effect” (Silva
Rhetoricae). Repetition drives the message home and aids the listener in retention of the idea.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Analysis Abbreviation) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft (Euro. Rhetorical Name) (Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Immediate Repetition
(IR)
(Epizeukis)
A grouping of two or more
notes repeated in immediate
succession
Immediate Repetition
XX------ or ------XX
or -------XX--------
A riff is a common
example of this
Beginning Repetition
(BR)
(Anaphora; Repetitio)
A repetition of the same notes
at the opening of a musical
passage and the opening of
subsequent musical passages
Initial Repetition
(Going Away from and
Returning to a Pattern)
X--------- / X---------
End Repetition
(ER) (Epistrophe)
A repetition of the same notes
at the end of a musical passage and the end of subsequent
musical passages
Final Repetition
(Going Away from and Returning to a Pattern)
---------X / --------X
Frame Repetition
(FR)
(Epanalepsis)
One or more notes from the
beginning of a phrase (or
period) are repeated at the end
of the same phrase (or period)
Bookends
(Going Away from and
Returning to a Pattern)
X------------X
Delayed Repetition
(DR)
(Diacope)
A grouping of two or more
notes repeated with other notes
intervening. The intervening
notes can comment on the
repeating pattern and/or serve as an introduction to the
repetition of the pattern
Delayed Repetition
(Going Away from and
Returning to a Pattern)
---X-----X--------
This can also incorporate
what Berliner calls
“Phrase Expansion
Through Interpolation” and “Repeating an Idea
Approached Through an
Introductory Figure”
172
Figures of Repetition (cont.)
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Analysis Abbreviation) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) (Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Beginning/End
Repetition
(BER)
(Symploche;
Complexio)
In subsequent phrases both the
beginning and ending of the
phrase are repeated. A
combination of Anaphora and
Epistrophe.
Divided Couples
(Going Away from and
Returning to a Pattern)
X-------Y / X-------Y
Connective
Repetition
(CR) (Anadiplosis)
One or more notes at the end of
a motive or phrase are repeated
at the beginning of the next. This figure often creates a
“conversational” quality.
Landings
(Beginning a Phrase
with the Last Pitch of the Previous Phrase)
---------X / X---------
This is a technique that
Cannonball Adderley used frequently.
Multiple Connective
Repetition
(MCR)
(Gradatio)
The last note(s) at the end of one
passage become(s) the beginning
note(s) in the next passage
through three or more iterations.
Most effectively done in a
parallel structure, such as a
sequence. An extended form of
connective repetition
(anadiplosis).
Ladder
-------X / X------Y /
Y---------Z
Often done in stepwise
sequence
Rephrased Repetition
(RR)
(Synonymia)
Repetition of a musical passage
with alterations or additions to
give greater emphasis or clarity
to the original idea. The
alterations can be in the pitches,
rhythm, dynamics, articulations,
etc.
Rephrasing
(Rephrase)
a, a’, a’’, etc.
This can include
augmentation and
diminution
Transposed
Repetition
(TR) (Polyptoton)
A repetition of a melodic figure
or phrase at different pitch levels
A sequence is a common
form of this
173
Figures of Balance, Symmetry, Order, and Contrast
Drawing on the rhetorical categories of parallelism, balance, and order (Silva Rhetoricae), these figures help the
listener order the idea in the mind and understand it more completely through comparison and contrast.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Parallelism
(Parallelism)
Similarity of structure in a
series of note groupings
Repeated structures /
Parallel
Lists
A contrasting element
occurs through different
pitches, etc. in the parallel
groupings.
Isocolon
(Isocolon)
A series of note groupings of
the same length. A specific
type of parallelism
Balanced Phrase Lengths
------------------------ /
------------------------ /
(See note for parallelism)
Tricolon
(Tricolon)
A series of three parallel note
groupings of the same length.
A specific type of isocolon
Same as directly above
------------------------ /
------------------------ /
------------------------ /
(See note for parallelism)
Sentence Structure
(N/A)
A 1:1:2 relationship in the
lengths of three successive,
related ideas
---------- /---------- /
----------------------/
Although commonly
found in one- or two-
phrase structures, this can
also be found in larger
formal structures
Antithesis
(Antithesis)
An opposing musical idea that
draws a contrast to the original
idea through some means, for
example: melodic structure,
rhythm, and articulation; this can contrast can even be
different types of musical
language.
The two ideas have both a
parallel and a contrasting
relationship so that the
second one comments, or
“signifies” on the first.
Reverse Order
(Chiasmus)
Reversing the “grammatical”
structure of a passage
Reverse Order
XY→YX
Reversing the order of
two ideas. This can also
be applied to individual
musical elements, such as
rhythm, articulation, etc.
Retrograde
(Antimetabole)
Repetition of notes in reverse
order in successive ideas
abcde / edcba
174
Figures of Amplification
“Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force” (Silva Rhetoricae). Like repetition, these figures
drive the point home, often by moving the listener, thus making the idea memorable.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Climax
(Climax)
An arrangement of notes or
phrases in order of increasing
importance, often in parallel
structure
Anticlimax (Anticlimax;
Catacosmesis)
An arrangement of notes or phrases in order of decreasing
importance, often in parallel
structure
Expansion
(N/A)
Adding notes to an idea (the
opposite of contraction)
(Phrase Expansion
through: Interpolation,
Introductory Figure, or
Cadential Extension)
For Berliner, interpolation
is placing new material in
the middle of the original
idea
Enumeration
(Enumeratio;
Distributio)
Elaboration of an idea to make
a point more forcefully by
laying out the various qualities
or aspects of an idea. This can involve dividing the musical
gesture into component parts,
for example through
permutation.
The permutations in
Coltrane’s “Impressions”
solo is a good example of
this
Exclamation
(Exclamatio)
A “musical exclamation that
can take many forms, but the
exclamation sets itself apart
from surrounding passages
Swearing
Hyperbole
(Hyperbole)
Musically overstating the point
through exaggeration.
Examples include extremes of timbre and tessitura, extensive
range in a passage, double-
time, excessive repetition.
These may be accompanied by
a distinct delivery, such as
playing behind-the-beat, to
“elevate” the language by
making the line sound very
deliberate or rhapsodic.
Exaggeration, Mock
Rhetoric, and
Superfluous Words
Examples in African
American culture include
Playing The Dozens, Toasting, Loud-Talking,
and other forms of
signifying.
175
Figures of Amplification, cont.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Understatement
(Litotes; Hypobole)
The opposite figure of
hyperbole. Deliberate
understatement to make a
musical point. Examples
include subito piano, sub-tone,
limited range in a passage
Humility
As a rhetorical figure, this
indicates humility,
simplicity, and/or
modesty. When taking
the form of a whisper,
this can also be an
attention-getting
mechanism.
Conjunction
(Polysyndeton)
Using several musical
conjunctions (for examples,
neighbor tones and chromatic
leading tones) in close
proximity to stress the
importance of each target pitch.
Added Connecting Words
Figures of Silence and Omission
These figures keep the listeners’ attention and give them time to reflect on or process the idea.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Truncation
(Aposiopesis)
A sudden break in the melodic
line as if overcome by passion
and unable to continue, or,
alternatively, a break in the line
after a passionate outburst in
the interest of returning to a more modest tone of voice
Unfinished Thoughts
(Phrase Truncation -
end of the idea omitted)
Break
(Abruptio)
A sudden and unexpected break
in one or more voices to create
suspense
Same as Directly Above
Frequently used in solo
breaks and cliché endings
Fragmentation
(Tmesis)
Fragmentation of the melodic
line through rests. Done for
emphasis.
This includes breaking
one idea into two
Contraction
(Ellipsis)
One or more notes or rests is
omitted (or shortened) from the
complete idea, but the entire
idea is still understood
Omissions
(Phrase Contraction-
middle of the idea
omitted; and Phrase Truncation)
Since a part of the idea is
used to represent the
whole, this is a musical
trope
176
Figures of Dialogue (the last two are uniquely African American)
These figures draw the listener and/or fellow performers into the “conversation” as the matter at hand is considered
by multiple “voices.”
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Analysis Abbreviation) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) (Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Parenthesis
(Parenthesis)
When the flow of musical
thought is temporarily
interrupted by another thought
in parenthetical form
Parenthesis
X (Y) X idea again.
An example is Sonny
Stitt’s double-timing
interjections on a ballad
melody. Essentially a dialogue with oneself, the
parenthetical material
often signifies on the
original material.
Dialogue
(Dialogismus)
The use of multiple musical
voices through either
compound melody,
counterpoint, pedal point; or
juxtaposing a contrasting
language to create a dialogue
(for e.g. using blues “rhetoric,” quotes from the song’s melody,
or other sources)
Rhetorically, speaking as
someone else, either to
bring another’s point of
view into one's own
speech, or to conduct a
pseudo-dialog through
taking up an opposing position with oneself.
This can also be used as a
signifying device.
Question and Answer
(Q&A)
(Anthypophora;
Hypophora)
An antecedent/consequent
relationship between ideas
where the second idea (closed)
is more definitive than the first
(open) and appears to answer
the question posed by the first
idea
Answering Questions
(Balanced Call and Response Phrase with
Altered Response)
Rhetorically, a figure of
reasoning in which one
asks and then answers
one’s own questions (or
raises and then settles
imaginary objections to
the argument at hand in
the form of reasoning
aloud)
Call and Response
(C&R)
(N/A)
Musical interaction that comes
in the form of a dialogue
between two or more
musicians. Typically one voice
leads and the others respond,
although leadership can be
fluid.
Per Woodward, call and
response participation is a
manifestation of nommo
(the “word”). An African
American rhetorical
device.
Collective
Improvisation
(N/A)
An ongoing musical
conversation between two or
more equal voices (i.e. there is
no clear leader)
An African American
device
177
Figures of Signifying and Indirection (& Other Primarily African American Figures)
The use of indirection in African American culture is extensive and has an “I’m here, not there (where you thought I
was)” quality. The thing not directly expressed due to indirection is typically signified upon.
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Analysis Abbreviation) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) (Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Time Indirection
(TI)
(N/A)
Use of cross rhythms,
polymeter, accenting weak
beats, playing ahead of or
behind the beat, playing straight
eighths against a swing rhythm backdrop, etc.
Samuel Floyd, Jr. refers to
this as signifying on the
time line
Pitch Indirection
(PI)
(N/A)
A musical gesture that obscures
its true intention by placing
more emphasis on approach
notes than target notes
(metrically, dynamically, etc.)
or other means of placing target
pitches in a weak position.
An African American
rhetorical strategy
whereby the point is made
through indirect means,
such as innuendo
Harmonic Indirection
(HI)
(N/A)
Anticipation or delay of a chord
change that creates a temporary
dissonance with the harmonic backdrop
Chord anticipation can
also be a figure of
dialogue (the soloist indicating to the rhythm
section where he or she is
going)
Harmonic
Generalization
(N/A)
Superimposing a static
harmony over a chord
progression
Another form of harmonic
indirection that signifies
on the harmonic
progression
Harmonic
Substitution
(N/A)
Playing alternate chords or
adding additional ones to the
original harmonic structure
Another form of harmonic
indirection that signifies
on the harmonic
progression
Mimicry
(N/A)
Quotes, mimicry. Mimicry
examples include playing in the
style of another artist or playing
in another musical style. This
mimicry comes in contrast to
one’s normal manner of
playing.
Geneva Smitherman
describes mimicry as
“deliberate imitation of
the speech and
mannerisms of
someone…for
authenticity, ridicule or
rhetorical effect.” An
example of Signifying.
178
Figures of Signifying and Indirection (& Other Primarily African American Figures) (cont.)
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Signifying
(N/A)
This can take many musical
forms. Used where there is not
a more specific musical-
rhetorical device, but signifying
is occurring.
A more general “catch-
all” label. Gates
describes signifying as
“repetition and revision.”
Through metaphor, new
meaning is assigned to the
thing being signified upon.
Tonal Semantics
(N/A)
A musical gesture that is
dominated by manipulation of
the sound of the notes (timbre,
attack, pitch, chord
voicing/color, etc.) more than
the syntactical logic of the
notes.
Smitherman’s rhetorical
term “tonal semantics”
describes a situation
where words and phrases
are chosen for their sound
properties rather than
their meaning. Sounds
are more important than
semantics in getting the
message across.
Patter
(N/A)
A musical passage that
impresses the listener as much
or more for its fast, fluid, or
skillful delivery as for the
quality of the idea itself
In African American
rhetoric, this is often
referred to as patter, slick-
talking, or fast-talking.
Musical examples include
double-timing figures or
quickly changing ideas
Recitation Tone (N/A)
The use of a single pitch as a focal point in a passage. The
dominant, minor seventh and
octave recitation tones are often
associated with rhetorical high
points.
In the African American church, preachers often
use recitation tones on the
dominant, minor seventh
and octave
179
Miscellaneous Figures
Name Musical Description Additional Names Additional Notes
(Euro. Rhetorical Name) Shakespeare’s Wordcraft
(Berliner, Thinking in Jazz)
Circumlocution
(Periphrasis;
circumlocution)
A florid or rhapsodic manner of
playing where many notes are
used to depict a simple musical
idea that could have been
communicated more directly
and in fewer notes.
Superfluous Words
When a vague and
evasive quality is present
this also becomes an
African American device.
Cliché
(Cliché; Commonplace)
Musical phrases that are
common vocabulary among the
community of jazz performers
and listeners so that their use and meaning is immediately
understood
Examples include “stock”
endings, like the Count Basie I – IV6 – Viio65/V
– I ending
Correction
(Transpositio;
Antistoecon;
Correctio)
A passage with a similar note
pattern to the previous passage
but with one or more pitches
changed to indicate a change of
harmony and/or affect.
A figure of change.
Doubt
(Dubitatio)
A pretended doubt or confusion
about where to begin or how to
choose between two or more
musical thoughts.
For example, an
intentionally ambiguous
phrase, harmonic
progression, rhythm, etc.
Alternatively, a phrase that seems to keep
searching for direction by
continually starting over.
Disorder
(N/A)
A musical depiction of “chaos”
– ideas that are illogical,
contradictory, or extremely
ambiguous.
Disorder
Doubt often has a hesitant
quality; disorder does not.
180
APPENDIX B: SOLO TRANSCRIPTIONS
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
APPENDIX C: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING’S “I HAVE A
DREAM” SPEECH
(Audience response are in parentheses)
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
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